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At his daily briefing on COVID-19 at a makeshift hospital space at the Javits Center in Manhattan on Tuesday, March 24, Cuomo said that new studies found that the apex of the virus may come as soon as 14 to 21 days.
Cuomo said that as testing continues to increase - 12,906 new tests were administered in the last 24 hours - they’ve found that the rate of new infections is approximately doubling every three days.
There are currently 25,665 (4,790 new) cases in New York State.
“We got some new facts, and there have been some changes in circumstances that are not encouraging,” he said. “We’re exercising all options as aggressively as we can. And with the current rate of increase, that apex is being projected to come approximately 14 to 21 days from now.”
Cuomo, who just yesterday predicted New York would require 110,000 hospital beds to accommodate those infected by the virus, said that as the curve continues to increase, the state may need upwards of 140,000 hospital beds and 40,000 ICU beds (beds with ventilators).
“Those are troubling and astronomical numbers, and as I mentioned, they are higher numbers than had been previously projected,” he said. “The increase in the number of cases continues to rise unabated, and we’ve got some of the most sophisticated people you can get doing projections on this.”
According to Cuomo, the state currently has access to approximately 7,000 ventilators, though hospitals may need as many as 30,000 by the time the apex hits in the coming weeks. He stressed that he cannot buy them, nor can he find them.
In some situations, hospital workers have turned to splitting one ventilator between two patients as an experiment.
“It’s going to be a dramatic increase in the number (of ventilators) you need, and we’ve been working around the clock trying to procure them,” he said. “You should deploy the ventilators around the country as they are needed. Different regions have different curves of the infection, New York is just going first.
“We’re not asking them to stay and live in New York. As soon as we finish with them, the ventilators can be moved to the next part of the country that needs them. Follow where the critical situations are and go from there.”
The governor said that he is ordering hospitals to increase their capacity by at least 50 percent, and he is looking to use SUNY, CUNY campuses, large gathering centers and other government-owned spaces as temporary hospitals.
“The inescapable conclusion, with the rate the infection is going up, the apex is going to be higher and sooner than we thought,” Cuomo said. “That’s a bad combination of facts, so we have to keep slowing the spread, and keep doing everything we can.”
“It’s clear we must increase hospital capacity to meet that apex, and we have to do it very quickly. It’s a very significant logistical operational moment and we need to increase the number of hospital beds and do what we need to do related to that.”
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