New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday public and private hospitals in his state need to start coordinating more closely amid reports of facilities that are nearing or at capacity and that are suffering from stressed, overworked employees amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Mr. Cuomo also said that there are now 75,795 positive coronavirus cases in his state and 1,550 coronavirus-related deaths — easily the most out of any state in the country. About 11,000 people are currently hospitalized and about 5,000 patients have been discharged.
He said private hospitals in the state have to help the public ones “and we have to watch.”
“When they get up near capacity — transfer patients. Elmhurst got up to capacity — you had other public hospitals that had open beds,” he said at his daily briefing on the COVID-19 outbreak in New York.
Mr. Cuomo said he was creating a new coordinating team led by the state health department to organize staffing needs and patient transfers.
On Monday, he had announced a partnership where hospital systems across the state could transfer patients to facilities that aren’t as full.
Elmhurst Hospital in Queens has become symbolic of the strained system. President Trump recently described seeing haunting images of body bags being hauled out of the facility, which is near his native home.
Mr. Cuomo said in New York City, the 11 public hospitals have historically been under greater strain than private ones.
“We have to get those two systems, the private system and the public system in New York City, working together in a way they never did before,” he said. “The distinction of private-public — that has to go out the window. We are one health care system.”
Mr. Cuomo, who has called on out-of-state health care workers to help New York if they’re able, on Tuesday asked employees in areas of the state that haven’t been hit as hard to consider helping out in hotter spots.
He estimated that the apex of the crisis in New York could still be three weeks away.
The governor has estimated the state could need 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients and said that the current procurement system is “like being on eBay with 50 other states bidding on a ventilator.”
“And then FEMA gets involved and FEMA starts bidding,” he said. “And now FEMA is bidding on top of the 50. So FEMA is driving up the price. What sense does this make?”
He said they recently ordered 17,000 ventilators from China at a cost of about $25,000 each.
“The orders into China are very slow in coming out — exactly how and why we’re not sure,” he said. “Of the 17,000, we only have a firm expectation on 2,500.”
He acknowledged that everyone wants to know when people’s lives will no longer be disrupted by the virus, but that nobody truly knows when that will be.
“It is not going to be soon,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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