NYC Mayor Declares New State of Emergency to Recover from Effects of Last State of Emergency

The latest New York City COVID-19 State of Emergency orders no longer cite the illness itself but the government's policy response as the cause of the emergency. Welcome to the Recovery Emergency.

Many critics have decried recent executive orders from New York City Mayor Eric Adams for once again extending the COVID-19 state of emergency. They point out that NYC is increasingly an outlier in keeping the pandemic emergency fires burning.

Here’s the thing: Adams didn’t extend the state of emergency. He started a new one.

The New Emergency: “New York City’s Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic”

With Emergency Executive Order No. 435, issued on June 20, 2023, Mayor Adams declared the end of the public health state of emergency and the transition to a new COVID-19 state of emergency series. As noted at the top of Order 435, it’s called “New York City’s Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” and it addresses “the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” not the illness itself.

Order 435 opens with this explanation that the public health emergency is over:

Emergency Executive Order No. 98 was the original order by then-mayor Bill de Blasio declaring a state of emergency due to COVID-19. Every rationale it provides for declaring the state of emergency has to do with the disease itself. It is Order 98 that de Blasio and then Mayor Adams extended over the next three years to maintain the COVID-19 state of emergency. Section 1 of each successive executive order refers back to Order 98.

In Order 435, however, Section 1 reads like this:

“Section 1. I hereby declare a State of Emergency related to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery therefrom within New York City.”