New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced new funding as he updated New Yorkers on the city’s COVID-19 recovery efforts from NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst Wednesday. 

He says safety net hospitals around the city are set to receive a $27 million loan in an effort to help combat COVID-19, a plan he is calling the New York City COVID-19 Hospital Loan Fund.

The mayor’s remarks come as confirmed cases around the city reached over 36,000, according to Adam’s office on Wednesday.  

With these numbers, Adams says the fund will have the resources and the staffing they need in order to stop the surge of COVID-19. 

Adams says that staffers employed at these safety-net hospitals have been hit hard by the pandemic and emphasized that no matter the borough or patient population, all New Yorkers deserve accessible health care. He says the fund will also ensure that hospitals and hospital staff provide this to all people citywide. 

The mayor also emphasized the importance of vaccination, booster shots and frequent testing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed an extra Pfizer shot for younger teens - those 12 to 15 - and strengthened its recommendation that 16- and 17-year-olds get it, too.