![]() It was a long year, it was a hard year, it was a challenging year, it was a frightening year, it was a painful year. That was the beginning, and we made it through. In this frightening scene, jeeps, Army trucks, body bags, they showed up, they showed up. Everybody’s nervous, everybody’s frightened, but they showed up, they showed up. ![]() They’re wearing masks, they’re wearing gloves, they’re getting a briefing on how the virus transfers. ![]() It looked like it was after the apocalypse, 2,500 hospital beds. They’re in this place that looked like it was a scene from a science fiction movie. We came down to supervise the setup of the hospital and I remember speaking to the National Guard, and these are young people who came from all over the state. 2,500, as far as you could see, and it was being staffed by National Guard and Army personnel. The entire floor was a sea of basically army cots and partitions. 2,500 emergency beds were set up at Javits. The beginning of COVID, Javits was turned into an emergency hospital, when we believed the hospitals were going to be overwhelmed. Javits Center in many ways represents the beginning and the end. In many ways, it’s emotional being back here. Coming into Javits, I was just checking with Dr. Zucker and then Reverend Pickett is going to be doing the real work today because he’ll make some remarks and then he’ll be receiving a vaccine. I’m going to make some comments then you’ll hear from Dr. Reverend Cockfield, Bishop Calvin Rice, Reverend Johnnie Green, Reverend Anthony Lowe, Reverend Renee Washington, Pastor Sean Gardner, Reverend, Minister Stanley Smith, Bishop Findlayter, Pastor Duckett, Reverend Aker, Reverend Bolden, Minister Knight,, Reverend Byrd, Reverend Newton Rush, Reverend Williams, Reverend Carson, Reverend Trollinger, Pastor James, Reverend Merriweather, Reverend Dr. I want to thank the members of the clergy who are here, who are making a very powerful statement today, and let me acknowledge them myself out of respect. This is a phenomenal convention center but what Alan Steel has had to do over the past year, no convention center on the planet has ever done. Mike Kopy who works on the State Emergency Management and has been heading up this operation. We have Reverend Gilbert Pickett, a pleasure to be with him. Howard Zucker, our health commissioner for the State of New York. First, let’s thank all the people who are working here today, the nurses, the doctors, the technicians, the National Guard.
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