Photo Courtesy of Mike Groll/Office of the Governor
“Our top priority is finding more beds for patients and getting the ventilators we need to ensure our most vulnerable patients are being treated properly, and we are actively scouting new locations for temporary hospital sites. This situation is not easy, but easy times don’t forge character—hard times do—and we will get through this together and be better and stronger people for it,” Gov. Cuomo said.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Days after announcing that the State was scouting additional new sites for temporary hospitals, with a goal of having a 1,000-plus patient overflow facility in each of the five borough as well as Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, and Suffolk counties, Gov. Andrew Cuomo received approval this week from the federal government to install a medical center on the grounds of Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park.
“The governor’s ability to quickly marshal all available resources is saving lives and inspiring action both here in New York and across the nation. Now that [the governor] has secured the federal approval, Aqueduct Racetrack will serve as a safe haven for those recovering,” New York Racing Association President and CEO Dave O’Rourke said. “We recognize that we all must work together as a community to meet this challenge and emerge stronger for it.”
On Thursday, Cuomo said the new temporary hospital sites, together with the medical facilities that are being built at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and locations at SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Old Westbury and the Westchester Convention Center, are aimed at adding thousands of new beds to bolster existing hospital capacity, with the goal of being open to patients in early- to mid-April. The State is also preparing college dormitories and hotels for emergency beds, Cuomo noted.
“We know at this point that any scenario will overwhelm the capacity of our healthcare system and we are continuing to work aggressively to increase our state’s hospital capacity and flatten the curve,” the governor said. “Our top priority is finding more beds for patients and getting the ventilators we need to ensure our most vulnerable patients are being treated properly, and we are actively scouting new locations for temporary hospital sites. This situation is not easy, but easy times don’t forge character—hard times do—and we will get through this together and be better and stronger people for it.”
In addition to Aqueduct, the State indicated on Thursday that it was looking at CUNY College of Staten Island, Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, and the New York Expo Center for temporary hospital sites.
“As we’ve said, the hospitals have a 53,000-bed capacity. We’re trying get to 140,000-bed capacity between the hospitals and the overflow facilities. We’ve mandated that the hospitals increased their capacity by 50 percent. We’ve asked them to try to increase it 100 percent, but they have to increase it 50 percent,” the governor added.
Cuomo also announced Thursday that an additional 12,000 healthcare workers, including retirees and students, have signed up to volunteer to work as part of the state’s surge healthcare force during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the total number of volunteers to more than 52,000.
Additionally, more than 8,600 mental health professionals, including individuals from other states, have now signed up to provide free online mental health services.
New Yorkers can call the State’s hotline at (844) 863-9314 to schedule a free mental-health service appointment.
