Negligent homicide or depraved indifference to human life? Who can save us from further death destruction and mayhem caused by this incompetent political hack and his trust in cronies? Worst case numbers in the country by any metric! Many experts have stated that we have one of the best Health Dept.'s anywhere, and this asshat mayor won't allow them to do what they do. Why, does it have something to do with cronyism?

By William K. Rashbaum, J. David Goodman, Jeffery C. Mays and Joseph Goldstein

May 14, 2020Updated 10:45 p.m. ET

As Mayor Bill de Blasio was resisting calls in March to cancel large gatherings and slow the spread of the coronavirus in New York City, he found behind-the-scenes support from a trusted voice: the head of his public hospital system, Dr. Mitchell Katz.

There was “no proof that closures will help stop the spread,” Dr. Katz wrote in an email to the mayor’s closest aides. He believed that banning large events would hurt the economy and sow fear. “If it is not safe to go to a conference, why is it safe to go to the hospital or ride in the subway?” he wrote. And, he said, many New Yorkers were going to get infected anyway.

“We have to accept that unless a vaccine is rapidly developed, large numbers of people will get infected,” he wrote. “The good thing is greater than 99 percent will recover without harm. Once people recover they will have immunity. The immunity will protect the herd.”

For Mr. de Blasio, the arguments in Dr. Katz’s March 10 email, obtained by The New York Times, appeared to hold sway over the calls for greater restrictions on daily life from top Health Department officials, who were alarmed by public health surveillance data pointing toward a looming outbreak.

The mayor did not order major closures, including of schools and restaurants, until almost a week after the email — a delay that epidemiologists say allowed the virus to spread.

Image caption: New York’s subway system, like much in the city, was still operating normally on March 10, even as calls to shut down the city were mounting.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Now, as the crisis in New York City enters the next stage, Mr. de Blasio, Dr. Katz and Health Department officials are once again navigating a nasty public fissure.

Health experts fear that their rift may threaten the city’s ability to limit the spread of the disease once the city — which has seen more than 20,000 people die of the virus — begins to reopen.

The mayor last week shocked the Health Department by taking away its authority to oversee contact tracing, giving the job to Health and Hospitals, the agency overseen by Dr. Katz. It is a monumental task: The city must build and run an army of some 2,500 people to track and trace the close contacts of every infected person.

The mayor’s decision to shift the responsibility to the public hospital system illustrated how Mr. de Blasio’s faith in Dr. Katz’s leadership abilities took precedence over the experience and knowledge of his public health officials, who have clashed with the mayor over a variety of issues.

Epidemiologists, former public health officials and the city comptroller criticized the move, pointing out that the Health Department has for decades expertly performed contact tracing for diseases like tuberculosis and H.I.V., and had been preparing for two weeks to run the expanded tracing operation for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, requested documents from City Hall as part of a formal investigation into the city’s response to the pandemic, including its handling of public health recommendations. On Friday, the City Council will hold a hearing on the mayor’s decision to give Health and Hospitals control of the contact tracing effort.

Even the person who ran the city’s hospital system before Dr. Katz thought the move was a mistake.

“It is a head-scratcher. I can’t figure out the rationale, and I don’t think it’s worth the risks,” said Stanley Brezenoff, who was chosen by Mr. de Blasio in 2016 to temporarily lead Health and Hospitals. “Just because they both have ‘health’ in the name doesn’t mean they’re in the same business.”

“I’m second to none in my admiration for Mitch’s clinical prowess,” Mr. Brezenoff added, “but this is a job for the Health Department.”

Dr. Katz, who is well regarded in the hospitals field, declined to comment for this article. His defenders said it was important to view his March 10 email about keeping the city open within the context of that time. Public health experts were wrestling with a highly unusual series of factors, and there was a wide range of opinions about how to respond.

The mayor’s press secretary, Freddi Goldstein [.....]