During an oversight hearing on the city\u2019s Code Blue operations, New York City Council members learned that 25 New Yorkers have died, including 18 people outdoors and seven in private residences.<\/p>\n
City Council members pressed the Mamdani administration for answers on the deaths of\u00a025\u00a0New Yorkers during the current cold snap in an oversight committee hearing on the city’s Code Blue\u00a0operations on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
New York City has been under a Code Blue weather emergency notice since Jan. 19, which is enacted when temperatures are below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. City agencies, including the Department of Homeless Services, the New York Police Department, and Emergency Management, have been working to keep New Yorkers\u2013primarily those unhoused\u2013 safe from the cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
City Council Council Speaker Julie Menin, who led the hearing, noted her displeasure over the city’s outreach efforts. \u201cIs it humane to leave them outside?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
NYC Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham said 15 of the 18 deaths that occurred outdoors\u00a0were hypothermia-related. DHS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park stated that the average hypothermia-related deaths fall between 10 to 20 individuals per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is certainly safe to say this is going to be a year that is outside the norm, which is tragic, and I feel that every day,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n
Park, who handed her resignation on Monday, stated that the city’s\u00a0outreach to homeless New Yorkers\u00a0is based on trust between the DHS and the individual, and each New Yorker\u00a0is assessed on a\u00a0case-by-case basis, including a check on\u00a0mental status, physical status, and exposure to the cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are adults with agency and civil rights,\u201d the commissioner said.<\/p>\n
Graham said there were an additional seven deaths in private residences. He did not provide any additional details about these deaths, except that hypothermia played a role.<\/p>\n
Park told council members that 33 involuntary removals were made since Code Blue started, and 2% of the total placements were made by DHS. All 311 calls regarding homeless outreach were rerouted to 911 in order to speed up emergency responses, she said.<\/p>\n
When a Code Blue notice\u00a0is in effect, city\u00a0officials are legally allowed to take homeless New Yorkers off the street. Alex Crohn, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives for the NYPD,\u00a0said that 52 removals were made in this manner.<\/p>\n