- Stockpiles to last only 6 days
- Confirmed cases now 92,381
- US death toll approaches 5,000
- Global deaths over 50,000
The alarm bell continues to ring in New York over the devastating effects of Coronavirus pandemic with Governor Andrew Cuomo worried that the State only has enough ventilators to last for just six more days.
This is as the number of cases in state rises to 92,381, with about 2,373 deaths and the various hospitals seeing 350 patients needing breathing help each night
Confirming the figure of 92,381 cases of Coronavirus at his daily briefing, Governor Cuomo warned that the State is facing grave danger when its stockpile of ventilators run out in six days times.
The governor said of serious concern is that the federal government “is in a position to provide ventilators” across the US to the extent that they are going to be needed in the coming days and weeks.
Cuomo disclosed that State released 400 ventilators to New York City on Wednesday night and would distribute more ventilators based on need in the weeks ahead.
The state has 2,200 in its stockpile and Cuomo said 350 people severely afflicted by the virus are coming into hospitals every night needing such breathing assistance.
Governor Cuomo also said the number of people discharged from the hospital is “way up”, marking some rare good news since cases started to surge.
He however warned the State still needs more hospital beds to prepare for the peak of the crisis, adding that New York is constructing temporary hospitals at places such as the Javits Center and Brooklyn Cruise terminal to provide additional beds for coronavirus patients.
The governor said there were more concerns about ensuring the State has enough medical professionals and equipment to deal with the peak of the crisis.
“Beds we can find; the harder component is the staff and the supplies”, Cuomo said, adding that it was the “cruelest irony” that the country was now dependent on China for the production of crucial medical equipment.
As coronavirus cases continue to rise, New York City Mayor, Bill De Blasio asked New Yorkers to wear a homemade face covering when they go outside to prevent the spread of the virus.
“When you put on that face covering, you’re protecting everyone else,” he said.
The Mayor explained that it could be a scarf or a bandanna or anything homemade, but it should not be a surgical mask needed by frontline medical workers.
The current move for people to wear face mask while going out was prompted by a recent study by researchers in Singapore, which became the latest to estimate that somewhere around 10 per cent of new infections may be sparked by people who carry the virus but have not yet suffered its flu-like symptoms.
In response to that study and others, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed how it defined the risk of infection for Americans. The Mayor of Los Angeles also told everyone in the City to start wearing masks on Wednesday.
United States’ cases of the virus have exceeded 215,000 and the death toll is approaching 5,000.
The Country has so far seen 2,373 deaths linked to the virus, up from 1,941 on Thursday, April 2, 2020. For now, New York accounts for nearly half of the Coronavirus deaths from the entire country.
Global deaths confirmed from Coronavirus exceeded 50,000 for the first time on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University, while global cases were approaching one million people.
