New York Hospitals Ordered To Add Beds To Handle Coronavirus

NEW YORK — The state is ordering New York hospitals to expand their capacity by at least 50 percent to prepare for an expected influx of COVID-19 patients, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.

The state Department of Health's emergency order requires all hospitals to develop plans to increase capacity by a minimum of 50 percent and aim to double the number of beds.

Starting Wednesday, hospitals must also cancel all elective, non-critical surgeries to further increase capacity for patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

There are 53,000 hospital beds available statewide, but the current rate of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York suggests that the state needs roughly 110,000 hospital beds to handle the crisis, Cuomo said during a news conference Sunday.

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"That is an obvious problem and that is what we’re dealing with." Cuomo said.

NY is doing everything we can to expand hospital capacity.

We are asking all NYS hospitals to increase capacity by 100%—regulations have been waived.

We are ordering that every hospital MUST increase capacity by at least 50%.

Every hospital must do its part to expand capacity.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 22, 2020

Officials have been scrambling to find ways to prevent the rapidly mounting number of COVID-19 cases from overwhelming New York hospitals, which already face an imminent shortage of essential supplies like ventilators.

Cuomo on Sunday gave the green light to the Army Corps of Engineers to set up four temporary hospitals statewide, including one at Manhattan's Jacob K. Javits Center, where the Federal Emergency Management Agency will install and staff an additional 1,000 beds.

Cuomo previously called on the national guard, building unions and private developers to identify sites that could be turned into makeshift hospitals, such as hotels.

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