The official death toll from the coronavirus soared in New York City after authorities began including people who died without ever being tested. City officials reported 3,778 additional "probable" COVID-19 deaths. (15 April)

Video Transcript

BILL DE BLASIO: Clearly, so many people have passed away. It was bigger than we even fully understood or could document. And I think it will be bigger still. We have to be honest about that. We have to be open about that because it tells us just how big a crisis we're in. But much more importantly, we have to move forward. We have to keep saving lives.

So today, we have a mixed bag. The first day, things are moving in the right direction. The second day, not so much. Today, we have a mixed bag. And again, don't get discouraged because it's going to not be a perfect, clean line the way forward. There'll be good days and bad days. But we got to get to the point where we string together a bunch of good days so we can get to the next phase.

We're giving some new guidance today. And it requires about when you go to the store, when you go shopping for food, what makes sense to do. So I'm giving the guidance to all supermarkets and groceries-- require customers-- require customers to wear face coverings when they come in.

We are dealing with an unprecedented challenge in terms of people needing food so we're going to create an unprecedented response. Today I'm announcing a $170 million initiative to make sure every New Yorker gets what they need and no New Yorker goes hungry.