Currents News Staff
April 3, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order which will allow the state to take ventilators and other equipment from hospitals in areas of the state that haven’t been hit as hard by the virus.
“I don’t have an option, and I’m not going to get in a situation where we know we are running out of ventilators and we could have people dying because there are no ventilators,” he said. “But there are hospitals in other parts of the state that have ventilators that they are not using.”
He says the equipment will be returned or replaced.
“What is fascinating is the normal business has dropped off dramatically for a hospital,” Cuomo added.
Ever since the stay at home order was put in place in the state, Cuomo noted fewer accidents, and since crime has dropped, fewer traumas.
That’s why the Javits Center temporary hospital, which was supposed to just care for non-COVID patients, is now open to people who are sick with the disease.
Cuomo once again called on businesses to make the supplies hospitals need.
“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 get these materials and we’re all competing against each other,” he said. “These are not complex materials.”
The governor also talked about the toll the virus crisis is taking on him.
“It’s hard to stay up all night watching those numbers come in, numbers of death tick up, and know that you’re in charge of the ship,” he said. “Eventually you go through the darkness and you find the light.”
Des: There’s so much we don’t know about this new coronavirus, but one of the things that researchers are starting to look at is the effect the change of seasons might have on the spread of the disease and whether weather might have an impact.