#De Blasio’s still in denial as NYC shootings surge on

Shootings across the city were triple the level of the same week last year, the latest NYPD data show. When will Mayor Bill de Blasio stop pretending the rise in violence is just another result of the pandemic, something that will reverse when COVID is vanquished?

In all this year, they’re up 83 percent over the 2020 mark and 93 percent above the 2019 level. Last week, that meant 49 of your neighbors wounded or killed; the week before, 50.

De Blasio insists that rising gun arrests will turn the tide. But the NYPD’s crackdown on guns started in September, and the tide is still rising.

The mayor also cluelessly notes that “overall crime is down” and insists that “Saturday Night Lights” basketball and summer youth jobs will reduce the violence. In fact, he’s not launching a police surge in hot spots until the start of summer with another iteration of the NYPD’s “Summer All Out” deployment.

Apparently, residents, shopkeepers and commuters are on their own while the cavalry mounts up to arrive next month.

Visiting with The Post’s editorial board Tuesday, mayoral candidate Eric Adams said the bad guys have learned they can predict when it’s safe: “If you don’t see a blue and white [an NYPD squad car], keep doing what you’re doing.”

With the plainclothes anti-crime unit dismantled, too many New Yorkers feel free to roam city streets armed with deadly handguns and other weapons. NYPD patrol cars with their flashing lights warn of their approach from blocks away.

Heck, simple gun possession won’t even get you sent to Rikers under the state’s insane “no bail” law. And the fury of “Defund the police” activists — and their ample political support — has beat cops more cautious about venturing into areas where they may see something and have to take action.

And innocent, law-abiding New Yorkers are paying the price.