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Cuomo said the order will allow him to deploy the National Guard largely to upstate hospitals, where the virus hasn’t hit as hard, to redistribute the equipment downstate, which has been at the epicenter of the outbreak.
There have now been 102,863 confirmed COVID-19 cases in New York, 91,588 of which were in New York City (57,159), Westchester (12,251), Nassau (12,024), and Suffolk (10,154).
“I’m not going to be in a position where people are dying, and we have several hundred ventilators in our own state somewhere else,” Cuomo said. “I’m not going to let people die because we did not redistribute ventilators.”
Cuomo said that he may be able to procure a few hundred ventilators, which could mean saving the lives of hundreds of people.
“We do not have enough ventilators. Period,” he said. “I am signing an Executive order allowing the state to take ventilators and redistribute them to hospitals in need. The National Guard will be mobilized to move ventilators to where they are urgently required to save lives.
“There might be several hundred excess ventilators out there. And if deploying the National Guard means saving a couple of lives, then you're damn right I’m going to.”
According to the governor, any facilities that have equipment taken from then will have it later returned to them once the virus subsides, or the state will purchase new ones when the demand is lower.
The governor stressed that no hospital or healthcare facility would be without any essential equipment, and the state only intends to utilize equipment that is stockpiled.
“I’ll borrow them, then I’ll either return them or pay you for a brand new one. You want to hope I don’t return it so that then you can buy a new one. How do you lose,” he questioned before turning to a metaphor to make his point.
“I’m not taking your last drill. I’m borrowing your drill. And if you need the drill back, I’m either going to hand it over or give you the money to get a new one. And by the way, you have five other drills in your toolbox. If you happen to go on a drilling frenzy, just call me up and I’ll happily get you a drill.”
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