New York Governor Andrew Cuomo appealed to the U.S. Government to rush aid to the state as the number of COVID-19 cases has failed to slow down.
This is despite a statewide stay-at-home order.
He said on Tuesday that the rate of cases is doubling every three days. New York has over 23,000 cases, half of the national total.
“We haven’t flattened the curve, and the curve is actually increasing,” Cuomo said.
He said the anticipated need for the height of the curve is 140,000 hospital beds and approximately 40,000 ICU beds.
“Those are troubling and astronomical numbers,” he said, noting that they are higher than previously projected.
There are currently 53,000 hospital beds and 3,000 ICU beds available, CBS reported.
Cuomo said that the “dramatic increase” in infections means the state’s apex — the peak of coronavirus cases — could now be as close as approximately 14 to 21 days away.
“One of the forecasters said to me we were looking at a freight train coming across the country,” he said.
The governor pleaded with the federal government for help procuring desperately needed ventilators, as well as personal protective equipment and hospital beds. New York has procured about 7,000 ventilators, according to Cuomo, but needs an additional 30,000 ventilators, “at a minimum.”
“In many ways we have exhausted every option available to us,” he said.
“There is no other way for us to get these ventilators. We’ve tried everything else. The only way we can obtain these ventilators is from the federal government. Period.”
Cuomo said that the private sector on its own will not act fast enough.
