Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday he shares some New Yorkers' fears when riding the subway.

"One crime on the subway system is one crime too many," Adams said. "We have to deal with the crime. A thousand new officers in the system, rolled out my plan, we have to deal with that."

Adams made the comments shortly after traveling to the Bronx to survey the site of another fatal fire in the Bronx that killed one person and left nine people injured.

What You Need To Know

  • The mayor's admission comes days after Michelle Go, a 40-year-old woman, was killed after being shoved into an incoming train

  • While he's facing serious challenges on public safety, Adams sought to highlight some good news on the pandemic front

  • The city's seven-day average for daily new cases is currently under 20,000

"On day one, I took the subway system, I felt unsafe. I saw homeless everywhere, yelling on the trains, there was a feeling of disorder," Adams added. 

The mayor's admission comes days after Michelle Go, a 40-year-old woman, was killed after a man allegedly shoved her into an incoming train at the 42nd Street station in Times Square. 

Just two weeks into taking office, Adams' challenge will be to demonstrate his response to rising crime on city subways is yielding results quickly.

“We know we have a job to do — and we’re going to do both. We’re going to drive down crime, and we’re going to make sure New Yorkers feel safe in our subway system," Adams said. "I don’t feel that way when I take the train every day, or when I’m moving throughout our transportation system.”

Earlier on Monday, Adams delivered his first COVID briefing from City Hall, reopening the Blue Room once again for reporters who have been unable to attend since the height of the pandemic in March of 2020.

While he's facing serious challenges on public safety, Adams sought to highlight some good news on the pandemic front.

"The level of cases in New York City, they are declining, they are declining. We know that there’s work to do and that they still remained at very high level, but we're seeing a leveling off," Adams said. 

Dr. Dave Chokshi, commissioner for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said the city is on the downslope of the omicron summit with cases and hospitalizations down, but they also emphasized more work remains before the city fully turns the corner.

The city's seven-day average for daily new cases is currently under 20,000, less than half the peak of nearly 43,000 average new cases just a day earlier this month. 

“Let me be clear, these numbers are still very high, meaning community transmitted spread remains widespread, and we will need to follow these trends closely over the coming days and weeks," Chokshi said. 

Similarly, COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending downward, from a total of about 6,500 patients hospitalized citywide on January 11 to about 5,800 as of Sunday, according to state data.