NY Cases Near 40K, 385 Dead; ‘Almost Any Scenario’ Will Overwhelm Health System: Gov
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Makeshift morgues. Cases doubling every 72 hours. Grim photos of nurses wearing trash bags as gowns. Economic shutdown. Staggering unemployment. Not enough aid.
The tri-state area is grappling with a months-long crisis that has shown no signs of slowing down. The curve will flatten eventually. But in the meantime, whole states, cities and everyday people are just struggling to figure out how to survive.
"This is going to change us," Gov Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. "This is going to form a new generation, and it will transform who we are and how we think. But no one is alone."
As of Thursday morning, more than 37,200 cases had been confirmed in New York, an increase of nearly 6,500 from the night before. At least 385 people have died. The city, impaired by the density that makes it one of the world's most vibrant places, bears the brunt of the impact, with nearly 21,400 cases across the five boroughs as of Thursday morning. The mayor's office said Wednesday the death toll had soared to 280, the biggest increase in deaths the city had seen so far - that's 27 percent of what NBC News estimates to be the total fatality number nationwide.
"Almost any scenario that is realistic will overwhelm the current capacity of the health care system," Cuomo said Thursday.
At Mount Sinai, where social media photos show nurses wearing 33-gallon garbage bags as makeshift gowns amid a supply shortage, a nursing manager was listed among the recent fatalities. He was in his 40s.
Cuomo said Thursday his office has reached out to city hospitals and while there may be some spot issues with distribution, they say they have adequate personal protective equipment for now. If they find themselves short, the governor said he'd have the state send more, adding "we have enough PPE for the immediate need." But New York doesn't have enough to last much longer, given an infection rate that Cuomo said earlier this week "continues unabated."
Actual hospitalizations from COVID-19 were rising faster than initially projected in New York, Cuomo said Wednesday, as he warned a tidal wave would crash on the state's health care system in just a few weeks. New York City saw a 110-percent spike in deaths in a day and a half. Now a makeshift morgue is being set up at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital to manage the wave of fatalities, a measure used in the past for mass casualty events like 9/11.
New Jersey, which is working with FEMA on field hospitals in four locations, including at the sprawling Meadowlands sports complex, has endured growing tragedy as well. A day after announcing the state's highest single-day fatality increase, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday the state had another new high: 18 deaths in one day, bringing its total to 62. New Jersey now has the second-highest case total (4,402) in America. New York is the only state with more.
At NYC Hospital Where 13 Died, Virus Testing Line Stretches Down the Block by SunriseQuote:
Coronavirus killed 13 people in one day at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, and the line to get tested Thursday was already down the block before sunrise.
The hospital's spokesperson says the number of deaths over just 24 hours is "consistent with the number of ICU patients being treated there."
"Elmhurst is at the center of this crisis, and it's the number one priority of our public hospital system right now. The frontline staff are going above and beyond in this crisis, and we continue surging supplies and personnel to this critical facility to keep pace with the crisis," NYC Health + Hospitals spokesperson Christopher Miller told NBC News.
NBC News correspondent Gabe Gutierrez tweeted a video of the line Thursday, showing what appeared to be at least 20 people waiting in a queue that looked a full city block long by 6:45 a.m.
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Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 26 Mar 2020, 11:36 am, edited 2 times in total.
26 Mar 2020, 9:54 am
