The mayor of New York on Saturday launched an appeal for the general mobilization of medical personnel, estimating that he needed the help of 45,000 additional professionals to face the coronavirus which is spreading at full speed in the megalopolis. “Doctors, nurses, breathing specialists … to all those who are not already in the battle: we need you”, launched the democratic councilor, Bill de Blasio in a video posted on his Twitter account.
To every doctor, nurse and health care professional: we need you.https://t.co/Ahza9sLZt9 #AskMyMayor pic.twitter.com/W1ibVgk9k9
– Major Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 4, 2020
“We need 45,000 health professionals to join the fight in April and May to be able to get out of this”
The night before, the city sent a warning message on the phones of New Yorkers to call on all health professionals to volunteer on a website dedicated to the fight against the new coronavirus.
Worst toll on Saturday
New York State recorded 630 deaths in one day, its worst 24-hour record, bringing the death toll from the epidemic in that state to 3,565 on Saturday. More broadly, New York State has more than 113,000 identified contaminations, almost as many as in Italy or Spain, the countries where the human losses are the heaviest.
“We have not yet reached the peak ‘of the epidemic’ but we are getting closer,” Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference, stressing that the rise was particularly rapid on Long Island . More than 57,000 cases have been identified in New York City, which already deplores the death of more than 2,000 people, including 305 for the single day of Friday.
Race against time
To avoid such tragedies, the New York authorities are engaged in a race against time to strengthen the capacity of medical structures to cope with the influx of patients. Field hospitals were erected in a conference center in Manhattan or Central Park, and a military hospital ship with a thousand beds docked in New York Harbor.
But according to Bill de Blasio and State Governor Andrew Cuomo, hospitals risk running out of staff but also of ventilators to treat the most affected patients. Bill de Blasio estimates that 2,500 to 3,000 more respirators are needed in his town for the coming week alone. Andrew Cuomo on Friday signed a decree to requisition devices held in private structures, in order to make them available to public hospitals.
–
