New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he plans to sign an executive order that would allow the state government to take personal protective equipment and ventilators from hospitals with less need and redeploy them to areas harder hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
The governor said he has spoken with hospital administrators and understands the reluctance to give up essential equipment, but that he wants to avoid a situation where COVID-19 patients are dying in one part of the state while ventilators sit unused in another part of the state.
"The theory is that if the government gets them, they will never get them back. I understand that, but I don't have an option," Cuomo said.
The move marks an expansion of a broader effort to coordinate the state's patchwork of regional health systems and public and private hospitals. The state is surveying hospitals nightly to determine case-loads, personnel needs, and inventories of needed medical supplies.
"Those institutions will either get their ventilator back or they will be reimbursed and paid for their ventilator so they can buy a new ventilator," the governor said. "I can't do anything more than that."
Several hundred ventilators could be shifted from upstate to downstate New York, according to Cuomo, though the exact amount remains to be determined. He said he's banking on hospitals' goodwill and pushed back against the use of the word "seize" in describing the policy.
"First of all, don't use the word seize," he said. "That's a harsh kind of word. It's sharing of resources. We're not going to have any part of the state not have the resources we need because we didn't share resources."
Cuomo also announced that the 2,500-bed emergency field hospital at the Javits Center in Manhattan will transition into treating COVID-19 patients. It was formerly intended as an overflow hospital for non-COVID cases, but there hasn't been enough demand for those cases.
"As it turned out, we don't have non-COVID people to any great extent in the hospitals," he said. "Hospitals have now turned into, effectively, ICU hospitals for COVID patients."
He said that the general shutdown of the state economy has led to a downturn in other types of medical needs, due to a drop in automobile-related injuries, violent crimes, and other incidents.
The latest numbers on the outbreak include 102,836 total cases, 14,810 hospitalizations, and more than 2,900 deaths, up from 2,300 deaths, which Cuomo called the "highest single increase in the number of deaths since we started."
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals Richenda Sandlin-Tymitz, Marketing & Content Manager at Alaska Tour & Travel, breaks down when and how to plan your best trip to Alaska; Kristen Miller, Acting Executive Director, Alaska Wilderness League, discusses the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the oil drilling that threatens it; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Magic of the Wild.'
Kristen Miller, acting executive director, Alaska Wilderness League, discusses the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the oil drilling that threatens it.
The Department of Treasury is warning Americans to expect delays on their tax returns this year as the IRS manages staffing shortages due to the pandemic.
The United States and Russia remain distant following a meeting between high-level officials for the two countries in Geneva, Switzerland. The nations remain conflicted over Washington's concern of a potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Moscow dispute with NATO expanding into former Soviet states. Hagar Chemali, host of Oh My World on YouTube and former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the U.N., joined Cheddar's "News Wrap" to give her take about the careful diplomatic negotiations underway. "I would expect more rounds," she said about the talks. "Both sides really remain adamant that we're not going to talk about Russia's proposal, and Russia doesn't want to talk about anything but its proposal. So once they start talking about the other items on the table, and there are a few other items, that's when negotiations can start."
Markets closed the day mixed, and well off their lows of the day following a market meltdown earlier in the session. The Nasdaq staged a comeback late in the day, even amid ongoing worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Doug Flynn, certified financial planner and co-founder of Flynn Zito Capito, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the markets' close and what's driving the major indexes.
Eli Yokley, Senior Reporter at Morning Consult, joins Cheddar News to discuss how Americans are prioritizing economic issues over the pandemic when it comes to voting.
President Biden's disapproval rating hit a new high in December according to a poll from CNBC and Change Research, as Americans expressed their disapproval over the current state of the economy. This comes just months after the president signed a historic infrastructure bill back in November that was promised to bring a surge of jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector.
Change Research Senior Pollster Nancy Zdunkewicz spoke to Cheddar News about just what is driving the President’s disapproval rating.
