New York State has 66,497 COVID-19 cases statewide and 1,218 deaths, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said Monday as hospitals worked to shed their independence and begin coordinating within and across regions.
“That’s a lot of loss, that’s a lot of pain, that’s a lot of tears, that’s a lot of grief that people all across the state are feeling,” Cuomo said of the 253 New Yorkers who died since the previous day.
The rate has slowed. Doulbing of cases about every six days. Daily intubation rate is
“The situation is painfully clear now; there’s no question what we’re dealing with,” he said. “There’s no question as to the consequences, there’s no question as to the grief and the loss of life. And there’s no question about what we must do.”
The public must do its share, Cuomo said.
“Stay at home,” he said. “This is a mandate. If you leave the house, you’re exposing yourself to danger. If you leave the house you’re exposing others to danger.”
Centralizing command of New York’s hospitals
But the frontline on the battle against COVID-19 is our health care system, Cuomo said.
Even as measures are underway to expand hospital capacity and bring in new supplies of equipment and labor, hospitals must do more to prepare for a anticipated wave of cases, Cuomo said.
Toward that end, hospital leaders from around the state met Monday to begin to centralize command of health care resources to meet the steeply rising demand.
Instead of acting independently, hospitals will work with one another — through a command center — to share equipment, supplies, workforce and caseloads, Cuomo said.
“This is a statewide battle and we want to make sure that we are all coordinated and that we are all working together,” Cuomo said. “No politics, no partisanship and no division.”
This new coordination of services, Cuomo said, can set an example for how hospitals may have to respond around the nation as COVID-19 spreads.
“There is no American who is immune to this virus,” Cuomo said. “I don’t care if you live in Kansas, I don’t care if you live in Texas, there is no American that is immune. What is happening to New York is not an anomaly.”
“In many ways, New York is just the canary in the coal mine. What you see us going through here, you will see happening all across this country,” he said.
“Hopefully, we’ll learn lessons here that we can then share with people across this nation.”