NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Some new COVID-19 policies are coming to New York City when Eric Adams takes office on Jan. 1.
Adams promised the changes Thursday, including a color-coded system that he compared to the U.S. government's terror alerts.
"If we hear a green, a yellow or a red, New Yorkers should know automatically that this is a moment when we should be taking extra precautions," said Adams.
Right now, Adams said New York City would be in a yellow alert situation. He said it would take him a lot to hit red.
"Red is shutdown language, and we never want to get there, shutting down our city again," he said.
Adams said he will listen to his health team about things like mandatory boosters or vaccinations for students, but remains noncommittal about Mayor Bill de Blasio's vaccine mandate for all private sector workers, set to go into effect four days before Adams takes office.
"We don't want to do something that is going to tilt our economic stability and I am open to see how do we accomplish that," Adams said.
Adams plans to release his own plan well in advance of that date.
"We've received some good feedback from businesses, because what is going on with small businesses is different from what's happening with large corporations," the mayor-elect said.
New York City's latest COVID numbers have seen the positivity rate double in just a few days, with figures around 7%, when they were around 3% last week.
