Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor de Blasio tours Fort Totten Thursday to greet EMTs and paramedics dispatched by FEMA to assist with the City’s COVID-19 response.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Even as Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday welcomed emergency medical technicians and paramedics dispatched by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Fort Totten in Bayside, and a grateful City cheered for its beleaguered healthcare workforce this week, COVID-19 continued its deadly stranglehold on New York.
On Wednesday, the total number of deaths in the Empire State shot up to 6,268; due to 779 people having died in NY in the previous 24 hours, the highest single-day death toll since such data were being monitored.
The city—and Queens, specifically—remained the epicenter of the pandemic. On Wednesday, the de Blasio administration announced that the number of COVID-19 cases in the five boroughs soared by more than 5,600 with 400 new deaths in just 24 hours. NYC had more than 78,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,600 fatalities, as of Wednesday morning. Queens’ number of confirmed cases blasted past the 20,000 mark this week. Brooklyn is the only borough that even comes close, with roughly 18,000 confirmed virus cases.
“New York City is facing a crisis that rivals only the Spanish Influenza and the Great Depression,” de Blasio said Sunday. “We need bold action—and fast. We need to mobilize doctors, nurses, and supplies to our front lines. And it needs to happen now—before it’s too late.”
Hizzoner on Sunday said the City has, to date, delivered 2,865 full service ventilators and 1,780 breathing assistance machines. Currently, 135 full-service ventilators remain in the City’s reserves. To adequately treat the number of new patients who are being intubated daily—approximately 200-300 citywide —the City must secure a total of 1,000-1,500 more ventilators by Sunday, April 12, de Blasio warned.
To address the immediate need, the City is requesting ventilators from the federal stockpile, which has a total of 10,000 ventilators. The City is also working with the State to obtain ventilators from the State stockpile, which is estimated to have a total of 2,800 full-service ventilators.
While the City has a sufficient amount of Personal Protective Equipment like surgical masks, eyewear, and gloves, an additional delivery of N95s and surgical gowns is needed to last through the week.
Additionally this week, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) led members of the New York Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to fully invoke the Defense Production Act to ensure that frontline healthcare workers in New York have the medical technology and protection that they need to save lives during the pandemic.
The missive urges Trump to:fully invoke DPA in order to incentivize manufacturers across the country to make their production lines reflect the needs of hospitals; increase Department of Defense personnel and materials—such as creating field hospitals or distributing emergency personal protective equipment—to state and local governments; and provide unrationed COVID-19 test kits with rapid results to healthcare workers to help keep them safe and on the frontlines.
