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Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday called on all New York state hospitals to start recruiting retired doctors and nurses before they were overwhelmed, as he revealed hospital admissions dropped from 850 in June at 3552 now – and that the new Thanksgiving infections haven’t been. have turned out.
A full shutdown – what he calls New York Pause – will happen if the hospital system is overwhelmed, he said. At the height of the pandemic in New York City, there were more than 18,000 people in hospital.
Monday’s hospital admissions are the same as March 23, but Cuomo said hospitals are better equipped to handle the crisis now. As of Sunday, 54 people died in New York state. The statewide COVID-19 test positivity rate is now 4.57%.
Currently, the state applies “yellow, red and orange” zone rules to neighborhoods where there are surges.
A red zone – the most severe – closes schools and non-essential businesses but keeps some open. On Monday, Cuomo said he would add “PAUSE” as the tougher set of rules. It is not known how it will differ from the red areas.
Cuomo, speaking at a press conference Monday where he played Christmas music and showed graphics of the Grinch, said he wanted to act now to prevent this from happening again, so he told each hospital now plans to add 50% to its capacity.
It also revealed that 65% of all new infections come from small home gatherings. Thanksgiving infections will reveal themselves over the next ten days, he said. Cuomo predicts that the situation will continue to worsen until mid-January and that a vaccine will not have a widespread effect until late spring.
Cuomo is asking each hospital to plan now to add 50% to its capacity so that it can add more beds in addition to finding more staff.
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“We are ready for the second round. Hopefully the second round won’t be the first. I’m just sorry we have to start over.
“We have to settle down… we are now worried about overloading the hospital system. You will see significant stress on the hospital system and we are still waiting for the post grace effect.
“We don’t yet know what the effect has been. We are seeing an increase statewide. The first round was mainly in New York. We had resources from the north that we could share.
“It’s not the case this time, it’s statewide. Literally every region is facing a hospital problem now. Look at these curves, they are all increasing at an alarming rate, ”he said.
He tells each hospital to now plan to add 50 percent to its capacity so that it can add more beds in addition to finding more staff.
“Every hospital now has to identify retired nurses and doctors – the staff are simply exhausted. They had a terrible year… to start over… ”he said.
He added, “We have been through this nightmare, we have learned from this nightmare and we will correct the lessons we learned in this nightmare. ”
The situation in New York reflects the increase nationwide.
Cuomo called the virus the Grinch. He also played Christmas music at the start of Monday’s press conference.
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Paramedics transport a patient to a hospital following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States, March 18, 2020. Hospitalizations are now the same number as March 23.
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There are now over 93,000 people in hospital with COVID across America; a record. One nurse described the escalating crisis as a “natural disaster occurring in every state”.
New York’s test positivity rate is comparatively low compared to other states – some have over 40% – and is also lower than the national average of around 9%.
Cuomo said on Monday that if the situation is going to get worse, it is “manageable.”
“The good news is we know what we’re dealing with this time around in a way we didn’t know in the spring. We are better prepared and we will be smarter in its management. If you can keep the system in balance, that’s a situation, ”he said.
Schools in New York have been closed since November 19 but will reopen next week after Mayor Bill de Blasio received a widespread reaction to the move.
Cuomo said Monday that closing schools was one of the last things he would do because the infection rate is so low among children.
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