De Blasio: Trump’s suggestion face masks are being stolen is ‘insulting’

Mayor Bill de Blasio | Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio — Bill de Blasio | Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday dismissed President Donald Trump’s suggestion that New York medical workers are stealing face masks.

“It’s insulting, it’s outrageous, it’s incredibly insensitive to people right now who are giving their all,” de Blasio said during an interview on NY1. “Our healthcare workers are suffering — they’re literally watching some of their own lost to this disease. They’re fighting with all they got.”

Trump, during a Sunday press conference, questioned why hospitals are going through medical supplies so quickly, asking: “Are they going out the back door?” He also said there’s a “question as to hoarding of ventilators” by hospitals.

De Blasio said he doesn’t “know what the president’s talking about.”

“It’s not true,” he said. “And it’s the wrong thing for him to do and he should just get back to work, be the commander-in-chief and get us help.”

During a later interview on CNN, de Blasio said the city will need 400 ventilators just to get through this Sunday, and will then need more. He has repeatedly asked the Trump administration for 15,000 ventilators, three million N-95 masks, 50 million surgical masks and 25 million sets of gowns, gloves and other protective equipment.

“I’ve gotten no new assurance, I’m going to keep demanding them and I put down a marker — Sunday is D-Day. We need help by Sunday,” de Blasio said.

There are 59,513 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York, with 33,768 in the city, according to the most recent state data. There have been nearly 1,000 deaths state-wide.

De Blasio gave both interviews from Pier 90, where he and Gov. Andrew Cuomo will officially welcome the USNS Comfort to the city. The naval ship will serve as a temporary hospital for non-coronavirus patients — freeing up more beds at existing hospitals for coronavirus care.

“For the people of this city who have gone through so much the last few weeks, what a morale boost, what a shot in the arm to see our military here to help us in such a powerful way,” he said. “It’s very poignant, it’s very moving for all of us. We need the help, let me tell you that.”