New York City Mobilizes as COVID-19 Cases Soar
Facing shortages of hospital beds, ventilators, masks, and even healthcare workers, New York City is drastically ramping up efforts to meet the needs of ever-more patients battling the novel coronavirus. There are now more than 59,000 cases of COVID-19 in New York State, and around 965 deaths.
The city’s first responders, including paramedics, EMTs, firefighters, and police all report being overwhelmed by the recent number of emergency calls. With limited amounts of personal protective equipment (PPEs), first responders are not only struggling to answer 911 calls, they’re also trying, and sometimes failing, to protect themselves. To date, more than 700 NYPD officers have tested positive for coronavirus.
The situation in NYC has been likened to a “war zone” by Dr. Mehmet Oz. The imagery is not exaggerated, as a 1,000 hospital bed Navy ship arrived in New York City on Monday. The USNS Comfort will not treat coronavirus patients, but rather help relieve overwhelmed hospitals by taking on other emergencies. This is not the ship’s first time in NYC. It was docked in the Big Apple after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, when it treated first responders.
Further uptown, Mt. Sini Hospital is partnering with the nonprofit organization Samaritan’s Purse to build a field hospital in New York City’s Central Park. The makeshift hospital will have 68 beds and is expected to be begin operating on Tuesday.
Also in Manhattan, the Army Corps of Engineers has converted the Javits Center into a temporary hospital. The 1,000 bed facility will open today, to be followed by three other temporary hospitals at Westchester County Center, SUNY Stony Brook, and SUNY Old Westbury. The governor is also looking to erect more temporary hospital sites across New York City’s different boroughs.
The governor warned that New York State may begin running out of PPEs at the end of this week. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spokesperson announced that an aircraft carrying 130,000 N95 masks, more than one million surgical masks and gowns, and 10 million gloves, arrived in New York on Sunday. The goods arrived from China, where factories are churning out PPE, just as that country has gotten a handle on its outbreak. The U.S. government is partnering with private companies to expedite the shipment of medical equipment to the U.S. by arranging air transport. But even with a surge in manufacturing, the life-saving equipment will not come soon enough for many doctors and nurses.
New York City and state leaders hope that the combination of support from hospitals, the federal government, nonprofits, and the private sector will allow healthcare workers to provide the care that is so desperately needed by COVID-19 patients, as the pandemic continues to grip America’s most populous city.