New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday said he will use his authority to take ventilators and protective gear from private hospitals and companies that aren't using them as he voiced anger over the short supply of essential medical equipment and gear amid a sharp increase in the coronavirus cases.
The curve continues to go up, Cuomo said addressing reporters on the coronavirus pandemic. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state now stand at 102,863, nearly half of all COVID19 cases in the US, where the tally is now 245,658. New York City alone has 57,159 coronavirus patients.
Cuomo also gave a grim assessment of the rising number of casualties, saying the state witnessed the highest single increase in the number of deaths since we started.
The death toll in the state now stands at 2,935, an increase of 562 deaths in just one day, Cuomo said sounding grim.
More than 6,000 people have died in the US, and 1562 in New York City alone, according to Johns Hopkins University estimates.
The Governor also expressed anger over the short supply of essential medical equipment for healthcare professionals to help them deal with the surge in coronavirus cases across the state and the country.
More From This Section
He said personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gowns and face shields are in short supply in New York as they are across the country and there is need for companies to make these materials.
It is unbelievable to me that in New York State, in the United States of America, we can't make these materials and that we are all shopping China to try to get these materials and we're all competing against each other, he said.
Holding up an N95 mask and a medical gown, Cuomo said these are not complex materials and we will work with New York manufacturers, will finance the transition necessary to make these materials.
I mean we talk about them as if they're very complicated, he said adding that it can't be that we can't make these. It can't be that companies in this country and in this state can't transition to make those supplies quickly.
He said he would sign an executive order giving the state the power to seize and redistribute ventilators, masks and other medical equipment from hospitals and private sector companies that have these stockpiles and did not immediately need it.
I'm not going to let people die because we didn't redistribute ventilators, Cuomo said. If they want to sue me for borrowing their excess ventilators to save lives, let them sue me, he said.
Cuomo has warned that the state has about six days of ventilators in its stockpile and he is doing everything possible to increase the supply of ventilators.
We are talking to the federal government to be as helpful as they canbut in truth I don't believe the federal stockpile has enough (ventilators) to help all the states because you can't buy the material at this point. We're still trying to buy from China.