Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“We’re approaching the toughest weeks of this crisis, and our City is rising to the challenge,” Hizzoner added. “We are increasing hospital capacity at breakneck speed to ensure that every person in need of care will get it—no questions asked.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
Even before Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19, The World’s Borough had become “Ground Zero” for the pandemic—ignominiously earning the coronavirus crown for the county with the most confirmed cases in the state with the most confirmed cases in the country.
Citywide, as of 6:00 PM on March 31st, there are 41,771 positive cases of COVID-19—13,869 of those in Queens—and 1,096 fatalities. There are 7,814 confirmed cases in the Bronx, 11,160 in Brooklyn, 6,539 in Manhattan, and 2,354 in Staten Island.
Just last week, Elmhurst Hospital, a public City Hospital beleaguered by the outbreak, suffered 13 virus-related deaths in a single 24-hour period.
Borough elected officials have been clamoring for a large influx of critical supplies and resources. On Friday, U.S. Reps. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens and Bronx) announced that they sent a letter to President Donald Trump, a borough native, calling on him to prioritize the transfer of Personal Protective Equipment and ventilators from the national stockpile to Elmhurst Hospital.
“We entreat you to promptly deploy immediate necessary resources to decrease the intensity and mitigate long-term harm of COVID-19,” Meng and Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “We urge you to address the needs required at Elmhurst Hospital.”
Photo Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de BlASIO announced a new temporary hospital facility at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Meng added, “Elmhurst Hospital Center has become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak here in New York City, and the situation is devastating. Its medical staff needs this equipment to protect themselves and their patients, and they need it NOW! I implore President Trump to do the right thing; help us save lives and send these desperately needed resources to Elmhurst. This is a matter of life and death!”
Ocasio-Cortez and Meng implored Trump to move quickly because time equals lives.
“The shortages of PPEs are jeopardizing the lives and welfare of these brave workers and of patients; if left unresolved, this would have a devastating ripple effect that will certainly revert any containment attempts. Furthermore, one less ventilator is one less life that had the hope of being saved. The staggering numbers of critical patients at Elmhurst Hospital is compounded with the shortages of ventilators,” they wrote.
Additionally on Friday, Borough President Sharon Lee ripped Trump for apparently doubting the high need for ventilators in NY.
“Just how many deaths must we suffer for you to believe us, Mr. President?”Lee said. “Queens would like to know. Life and death is not a matter for negotiation. This is a race against time. Frontline workers and medical professionals are moving mountains around the clock with extraordinary acts of heroism, using all tools and resources available to save each and every single life. NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst is currently at the center of the rapidly-developing public health crisis, and currently the top priority of the NYC Health + Hospitals system. Queens hospitals are experiencing a distressing surge of COVID-19 patients in recent days, where frontline workers and medical professionals are heroically working around the clock to save precious lives.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo this week secured federal funding to construct a temporary hospital at Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park. On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de BlASIO announced a new temporary hospital facility at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The facility will treat COVID non-ICU patients beginning next Tuesday, April 7. The hospital will reach its full capacity of 350 patients over the next three weeks.
These additional beds will help relieve some of the current need at Elmhurst Hospital, de Blasio said.
“We’re approaching the toughest weeks of this crisis, and our City is rising to the challenge,” Hizzoner added. “We are increasing hospital capacity at breakneck speed to ensure that every person in need of care will get it—no questions asked.”
The mayor also announced Tuesday that since Parks Department staff has noticed a consistent lack of social distancing with children’s play equipment at 10 playgrounds across the City and will close them by the end of today, Tuesday, March 31st. The playgrounds include:
Queens:
Mauro Playground (in Meadows Corona Park)
Brooklyn:
Middleton Playground
Fort Greene Park – two playgrounds
Brighton Playground
Bronx:
Watson Gleason Playground
Manhattan:
Fort Tryon — Jacob Javits Playground
Raoul Wallenberg Playground (in Highbridge Park)
Staten Island:
Clove Lakes Park — two playgrounds
On Sunday, Cuomo also announced that he would be extending “NYS on Pause” functions for another two weeks. He also directed the state nonessential workforce to continue to work from home for an additional two weeks through April 15. The state will re-evaluate after this additional two-week period.
In-person workforce restrictions, which have been implemented through various Executive Orders —202.3 (restaurants and bars, gyms, fitness centers, movie theaters and casinos); 202.4 (local government workforces, school districts; village elections); 202.5 (malls, public amusement facilities); 202.6 (all non-essential reduce 50 percent); 202.7 (barber shops, salons, other personal care); 202.8 (DMV); 202.10 (non-essential gatherings of any size); 202.11 (extension of school district closure until April 15, 2020) — are also extended until April 15, 2020 to enable uniform extension and review of such restrictions, and any such restrictions may be extended by future executive orders.
And State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) this week emphasized the need to continue social distancing.
“As more people test positive for the coronavirus, more of our hospitals’ beds will be taken up and the city’s death toll will rise because we just don’t have the means to handle the increased number of patients that will need medical care. That is why all New Yorkers need to adhere to the strict ‘stay at home’ and social distancing policies to reduce the spread of the virus, especially to the most vulnerable of society like the elderly and those with underlying health conditions,” the senator said.
