Fast Facts:
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The governor said at the current burn rate, the state has in its stockpile enough ventilators for six days
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The state is extending open enrollment in the health exchange for an additional 30 days, through May 15
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The governor asked any manufacturer who can help with supplies to call 212-803-3100 or go to Covid19supplies@esd.ny.gov
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Using social distancing and depending on the model used, the apex can occur anywhere from 7 to 30 days
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Westchester had 884 new cases bringing its total to 11,567
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Total number of people tested is 238,965
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Number of deaths in the state rose from 1,941 to 2,373
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85,400 health care workers have volunteered to help existing staff
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said this afternoon that the number of COVID-19 cases being detected in Westchester County is troubling, as is the number showing up in Nassau County.
He said that his concern is based on the number of cases in New York City being about four-and-one-half times the number in Westchester and Nassau. The population of the city is about 8.275 million while the population of Westchester is 980,244 and the population of Nassau is 1.58 million.
Cuomo said his concern stems from the per capita number of cases in Westchester being about double what it is in New York City. The per capita rate in Nassau County also is higher than in New York City.
Cuomo said the availability of ventilators remains problematic. He said that at the current rate they’re needed, the state has about six days worth of ventilators in the stockpile.
He said a process has started to do an inventory each night of the critical hospital supplies that are available. Last night’s inventory showed the state had 23.6 million nitrile gloves, 7.7 million surgical masks, 2.3 million N95 respirator masks, and 2.1 million isolation gowns among other items.
The state still is trying to locate and buy more ventilators. he said. Yesterday the state released 400 to facilities of New York City Health and Hospitals and 200 to Long Island and Westchester.
Cuomo said that in addition to using a single ventilator to help two patients stay alive by having it feed two breathing tubes, the state was looking at converting BiPAP machines to function a ventilators. He said that Northwell Health had gotten approval for the process. A BiPAP machine is a bilevel positive airway pressure machine. It’s somewhat similar to a CPAP machine commonly used by people who have sleep apnea.
At the Albany news conference, Cuomo presented the latest statistics showing there had been 2,373 deaths in New York state from the virus. There were 11,567 cases identified in Westchester, 10,587 cases in Nassau and 51,809 cases in New York City. There were 92,381 cases identified statewide. Rockland County had 3,751 cases while Orange had 1,993 and Dutchess had 667.
Cuomo reported that COVID-19 cases have now been identified in every county in the state. He said that reality now matches his forecast that the virus would march across the state and had a warning for the rest of the U.S.
“It is going to march across the country. It is false comfort to say ‘We are a rural community, we don’t have the density of New York City.’ You have counties in New York state where you have more cows than people.”
Cuomo said “I don’t know” when asked how he makes sense of President Trump’s new comments on Twitter that New York state got a late start in taking action to combat COVID-19 while Trump at the same time praised Cuomo for doing a good job.
Cuomo reported that various models of how the pandemic may continue to unfold indicate that the apex could come in seven days, 21 days or 30 days from today. He showed a chart indicating that a lower level of cases could continue to develop through August. He said while everyone wants to know when the crisis will end, there is no way to be sure at this point.
Cuomo asked businesses in New York that have the manufacturing capability for gowns and other personal protective equipment to step forward and contact the Empire State Development Corp.
“It is the cruelest irony that this nation is now dependent on China for production of many of these products,” Cuomo said. “If you are a manufacturer who can convert to make these products and make them quickly, if you have the capacity to make these products, we will purchase them and we will pay a premium and we will pay to convert or transition your manufacturing facility to a facility that can do this.”
Cuomo’s brother, CNN journalist Chris Cuomo, who has been afflicted with COVID-19, appeared at the news conference via video. Chris Cuomo described a nightlong bout of chills, fever and hallucinations. He described what he termed a dream in which the governor was wearing a ballet costume and was dancing around while flicking a wand and saying, “I wish I could make this go away.”
Staff writer Bob Rozycki contributed to this report.
If Governor Cuomo was really that concerned about saving lives, he would have ordered IV vitamin C used as per the protocol used by the Chinese. 50-200mg/kg of body weight. The pharmaceutical industry does not want this information known because it would interfere with their plans to have forced vaccinations. [ https://thevaccinereaction.org/2020/03/high-doses-of-vitamin-c-used-to-prevent-and-treat-coronavirus-infections-in-china/ from Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, March 3, 2020 reports that the government of Shanghai is recommending “…coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) be treated with high amounts of intravenous vitamin C, with dosage recommendations varying from 50 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body weight to up to 200 mg per kg per day.1 2â€] Instead of worrying about re-election, how about being a hero and saving lives. There was even a NY Post and Newsweek mention of the work of ANdrew Weber at North Shore University Hospital using woefully inadequate doses of 1.5 mg, but at least he is willing to try non drug, non patentable approaches. There is so little coverage about this because of the censorship surround natural medicine.
A problem is that people from the city and boroughs are coming to Westchester hospitals! I have heard of people coming here and begging to be admitted due to the overcrowding in queens. It is not fair that these non-Westchester residents are using our precious resources that we will desperately need!