Published Date: Monday, March 16, 2020

In yesterday’s press conference, Governor Cuomo urged President Trump to send in the Army Corps of Engineers to retrofit existing buildings like SUNY to serve as temporary hospitals. He anticipates the need for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, which include ventilators, to be in high demand very quickly, all at once.

Governor Cuomo set the stage for why with a picture of a tsunami wave crashing over a hospital, referring to the “curve” as more of a “wave.”

“If you have too high a number of people sick at the same time, when they descend on the hospital system, you will overwhelm the hospital system. That’s the issue here. Overwhelming the capacity of the hospital system,” Governor Cuomo said.

“I’m a governor,” he continued. “I am focused on what I need today, to prepare for tomorrow. That’s what everyone should be focused on.”

“We are looking at a new war that no one has seen before.”

— Governor Cuomo

“We are looking at a new war that no one has seen before. This is a case of first impression. We have never fought a virus like this, with this potential consequence,” he stated.

And then he shared ideas: “So, plan forward. You see that wave? Try to reduce the size of the wave. Assume you can’t reduce the size of the wave. Assume the wave breaks on a higher level than the hospital system can accommodate. That’s what I believe is going to happen.”

The Governor explained that current ICU beds are 80% occupied (there are 3,000 ICU beds total in New York state). Only several hundred ICU beds are available. “They [the ICU beds] need the ventilators. They need the machines that breathe for them. Those are the ventilators, and those are with the ICU beds. The overwhelming crush will be on the ICU beds.”

He contrasted the ICU beds with the “normal” hospital beds, of which there are 53,000. Those are “basically going to be filled with people recovering with what feels like the flu,” where hospital staff are checking your vitals, hydrating you, feeding you, he described.

Governor Cuomo wants to build more hospitals and find more staff. He wants more staff because “hospital workers will get sick,” he said. He wants to recruit medical staff who are on reserve, from retirement, etc.. Another option is to reduce or pause elective surgeries. Ohio canceled elective surgeries several days ago. And you know that thing about Ohio (ALBB founder Katie is a native Ohioan) - the weather that happens in Ohio happens in New York one or two days later.

Governor Cuomo wrote an open letter to President Trump, published in The New York Times, to ask for the Army Corps of Engineers to retrofit existing buildings into hospitals. The governor said that anyoptions in the private sector are not there.

In response, President Trump denied this request, telling Governor Cuomo to do more. “This can’t be a national policy of every state does its own thing,” Governor Cuomo said yesterday, before the president declined his request for builders. “You can’t have a patchwork quilt of policy. New York state closes stores. OK, New Jersey doesn’t. What did I do? I sent thousands of vehicles over to New Jersey.”

Today, Governor Cuomo mandated that all gyms, casinos, movie theaters, bars and restaurants close (takeout and delivery only for bars/restaurants), and reduced the crowd mandate to 50.

Not only that, but states neighboring: CT and NJ also did the same. These states agreed to also close so as to avoid overflow when people leave one state to do something in another state. Same thing could happen at a micro level - and even shorter distance level - at the county or city level. People from New York City escaping to Beacon, which is what happened on St. Paddy’s Day weekend, and could continue if people wanted to flee their sheltering restrictions in NYC. In fact, there is an entire blog dedicated to just this concept (we love Escape Brooklyn, but you get the point - for now, stay home)!

As For More ICU Hospital Beds

“We know what is going to happen. We have the data and the projection. Look at China. Look at South Korea. Look at Italy. And just plot the numbers. You know the curve. ”

— Governor Cuomo

“We know what is going to happen. We have the data and the projection. Look at China. Look at South Korea. Look at Italy. And just plot the numbers. You know the curve. You know how effective you are at flattening the curve. And we are now looking at a wave… Do everything you can to reduce the wave. We are. It’s still a wave. It’s going to be a wave. And it is going to be a wave that at any of these projections, will overwhelm the healthcare system.”

Governor Cuomo asked the president for three things:

FDA to get out of the way for automated testing.
Federal government to give guidance to states.
More hospital facilities. Cuomo wants the Army Corps of Engineers to construct or retrofit buildings and acquire thousands of pieces of equipment to build quickly.

“I don’t have the physical capacity,” he urged. “There’s only one workforce that can do that: The Army Corps of Engineers and the military assets. They build bridges. They build camps. They have equipment, excavators, purchasing power. Use them to come in right now. Identify existing facilities that can be retrofitted.”

“China built dozens of hospitals in literally a month. How? The Chinese government came in and said ‘We’re going to do this.’ You can’t leave this to the states… I’m an aggressive governor. I push very hard. But there’s no way that we could manage this undertaking.”

President Trump’s response today: “Cuomo of New York has to do more.” (See the deleted Tweet here)

And then Governor Cuomo’s response, saying he was happy to do the president’s job.