New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered hospitals to increase capacity and announced a series of measures for the state now considered an epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo announced that as of Monday morning there were 20,875 cases in New York state, an increase of 5,707 from Sunday. He said 13 percent are hospitalized and a total of 157 deaths. New York now has nearly 6 percent of coronavirus cases around the globe.
"Find more beds, use more rooms, you must increase your capacity," he said from his press conference in Albany. "I don't think it's unreasonable to say try to reach a 100 percent increase, but you must reach a 50 percent increase."
More beds need more staffing, the governor went on to say, and called on retired health care professionals to help. So far, more than 30,000 retired doctors and other health care workers have volunteered, Cuomo said, and he asked health insurance companies that employ doctors and nurses to release them to join those volunteers.
"We don't need them to be in the insurance business right now," he said.
Cuomo revealed that the state had secured hundreds of thousands of units of medical supplies, and acknowledged that New York City will be receiving more than 169,000 N-95 masks, 430,000 surgical masks, 176,000 globes, 72,000 gowns, and 98,000 face shields. However, he again asked the federal government for guidance, funding, and to invoke the Defense Production Act to speed up supply manufacturing.
"Fund the need. Proportionally, in absolute terms, New York has by far the greatest need in the nation," he implored.
Cuomo continued to emphasize the need for people to maintain their distance from each other to decrease the spread of the virus but also expressed thoughts about eventually rebooting the state's economy.
"How do you restart or transition to a restart of the economy and how do you dovetail that with a public health strategy?" he posed the questions about people possibly going back to work.
On Sunday, Cuomo had asked New York City for a plan to reduce the public gatherings still occurring in outdoor spaces, which he said on Monday he still hadn't received.
Pivoting from a political update to a personal plea, the governor urged all Americans to take care of one another and "settle in" for what life will look like now.
"Don't underestimate the emotional trauma, and don't underestimate the pain of isolation. It is real," Cuomo said.
