COVID-19 was just beginning to take hold of New York City in March 2020 when reporters last set foot in City Hall’s Blue Room for a press briefing with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Since the pandemic began, with exception of the occasional on-site outing, the mayor’s interactions with members of the press have been limited to daily briefings conducted remotely — with the mayor conducting business from the Blue Room and taking questions from journalists calling in through a Webex conference.
Even as other parts of City Hall have reopened to the public in recent months — including Room 9, where reporters typically gather — journalists still cannot get within arm’s reach of de Blasio during the daily briefings. It’s become the subject of much tension between the mayor and a frustrated City Hall press corps looking to regain its physical access to the city’s chief executive.