Cuomo tells hospitals to recruit retired doctors NOW and warns second lockdown is possible as COVID hospitalizations soar to the same level as March 23 - and that's BEFORE all the Thanksgiving infections
Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday told every hospital in the state of New York to start recruiting retired doctors and nurses now before they become overwhelmed as he revealed that hospitalizations have gone up from 850 in June to 3,552 now - and new infections from Thanksgiving have not yet revealed themselves.
An entire shutdown - what he calls New York Pause - will happen if the hospital system becomes overwhelmed, he said. At the height of the pandemic in New York in April, there were more than 18,000 people in the hospital.
Monday's number of hospitalizations is the same as it was on March 23 but Cuomo said hospitals are better equipped to handle the crisis now. On Sunday, 54 people died across the state of New York. The statewide COVID-19 test positivity rate is now 4.57 percent.
Currently, the state is applying 'yellow, red and orange' zone rules to neighborhoods where there are surges.
A red zone - the most severe - closes schools and non-essential businesses but keeps some open. On Monday, Cuomo said that he'd add 'PAUSE' as the most severe set of rules. It's unclear how it will differ from red zones.
Cuomo, speaking at a press conference on Monday where he played Christmas music and showed graphics of the Grinch, said he wants to act now to avoid that happening again so is telling every hospital to plan now to add 50 percent to its capacity.
He also revealed that 65 percent of all new infections are coming from small gatherings in homes. Thanksgiving infections will reveal themselves over the next ten days, he said. Cuomo predicts that the situation is going to keep worsening until mid-January and that a vaccine won't have any widespread effect until the end of spring.
Cuomo is telling every hospital to plan now to add 50 percent to its capacity to be able to add more beds in addition to finding more staffing.
While hospitalizations are going up, they are not at the rate yet they were at their worst
Every region of New York is seeing a surge in hospitalizations now. In the spring, the worst problem was in New York City
'We're in for round two. With any luck, round two will not be round one. I'm just sorry that we have to go through it again.
'We have to settle in... we are now worried about overwhelming the hospital system. You will see serious stress on the hospital system and we are still awaiting the post thanksgiving effect.
'We don't know what the effect has been yet. We are seeing the rise all across the state. The first go around it was primarily New York City. We had upstate resources we could share.
'That is not the case this time- it is statewide. Literally every region is dealing with a hospital issue now. Look at those curves they are all going up at an alarming rate,' he said.
He is telling every hospital to plan now to add 50 percent to its capacity to be able to add more beds in addition to finding more staffing.
'Every hospital has to identify retired nurses and doctors now - staff just gets exhausted. They've had a horrendous year..to now go through this again..' he said.
He added: 'We lived this nightmare, we learned from this nightmare and we're going to correct for the lessons we learned in this nightmare.'
The situation in New York mirrors the nationwide increase.
Paramedics wheel a patient into a hospital following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 18, 2020. Hospitalizations are now the same number as they were on March 23
Mayor Bill de Blasio was Zoomed into the press conference on Monday. He is reopening schools in NYC next week after receiving widespread criticism for closing them
There are now more than 93,000 people in the hospital with COVID across America; a record high. One nurse described the escalating crisis as a 'natural disaster occurring in every state'.
New York's test positivity rate is comparatively low to other states - some have more than 40 percent - and is also below the national average of around 9 percent.
Cuomo on Monday said that while the situation will get worse, it is 'manageable'.
'The good news is we know what we're dealing with this time in a way we did not know in the spring. We're better prepared and we're going to be smarter in the management of it.
'If you can keep the system balanced, that's one situation,' he said.
Schools in New York City have been shut since November 19 but will reopen next week after Mayor Bill de Blasio received widespread backlash over the decision.
Cuomo said on Monday that closing schools is one of the last things he will do because the infection rate is is so low among kids.
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