Former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s senior public health advisor, Dr. Jay Varma, joined Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” to discuss the phase of the pandemic the city is entering, policies he wants to see governments adopt, and Mayor Eric Adams' COVID-19 decisions. 

“This is actually one of the most challenging places in the epidemic because instead of having rules we can apply to everybody, which we did earlier on, we’re seeing this shift,” Varma said. “And the shift isn’t just because of science, it’s because of what the public wants and what the public is willing to accept.”

Varma said this new phase can be confusing for New Yorkers as they try to determine best practices in a world where the disease is still spreading, but governments are pushing for a return to normalcy. But it’s not as simple as “follow the science,” according to Varma.

Public health officials say “we start with the science,” Varma said, adding he advised de Blasio on the balance between restrictions that would more completely prevent infections and policies that were feasible, legal, and ethical. That balance is one Mayor Eric Adams is working to manage right now.

“I don’t envy him. This is a very difficult time,” Varma said. Formerly an advisor to the Adams, Varma said he is no longer serving in that capacity.

As the city and state move away from mandates and restriction, Varma argued governments should do more to help people make individual decisions as the onus ends up on the public.

“What I’d like to see more of is a more aggressive effort to get people boosted,” Varma said. “I would like to see every home have delivered to it high quality masks, test kits, and help people out to understand ventilation and access to antiviral medications.”

The city promotes all these precautions, Varma said, but acquiring masks, test kits, and medications depends on New Yorkers going out and getting them. He also called for ventilation regulation that would better protect people from COVID-19, as well as air pollution, other respiratory infections, and allergies.

Varma, who previously worked at the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, now serves as a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Department of Population Health Sciences.