Just a few months after retiring from public service, former NYPD Commissioner James P. O'Neill has been called back to respond to a crisis in his hometown.
As of Thursday afternoon, New York City had more than 51,000 confirmed novel coronavirus cases and over 1,300 deaths caused by COVID-19. The worst of the outbreak could still be weeks away and the city is running low on crucial medical supplies.
O'Neill's job is to evaluate and monitor the city's supply chain — its sources and its distribution — and ensure front line health professionals have everything they need to save as many lives as possible.
"Now is the time for all of us to come together, without a doubt," O'Neill told Q104.3 New York's Jim Kerr and Shelli Sonstein. "I mean, if we can't do this now, I don't think we'd ever be able to do it. You just take a look at the numbers, we haven't reached the apex yet. The governor says that. The mayor says that. So this is the time for all of us to get together."
O'Neill is in the middle of assembling a team, which he says will contain members of several city agencies, including the NYPD.
The number one priority for O'Neill's team is dealing directly with city hospitals and having an intimate knowledge of the situation in the proverbial COVID-19 trenches.
Listen to the full conversation with O'Neill in the audio player above or here via iHeartRadio.
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