NEW YORK — New York has just six days’ supply of ventilators left.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the dramatic revelation Thursday as he dispatched 400 life-saving machines to New York City hospitals and 200 more to suburban counties.
“Right now, we have a burn rate of about six days in the stockpile,” Cuomo said. “We have extraordinary measures in place that can make a difference if we run into a real ventilator shortage.”
The Democratic governor said just 2,200 ventilators remain in the state’s stockpile. An additional 350 a day are needed to save coronavirus-stricken patients.
“If the person comes in and needs a ventilator and you don’t have a ventilator, the person dies,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo conceded that he has lost faith in the federal government’s ability to come to the rescue of states battling the pandemic.
“Just assume you are on your own,” Cuomo said grimly.
The governor said 432 more people died of coronavirus in New York state in the past 24 hours and the total number of cases kept marching. past 92,000.
“Can you handle the height of the impact on the hospital system, which is at the apex of the curve?” Cuomo asked. “We call that the battle of the mountaintop.”
The state death toll now stands at 2,373, about half the national death toll from the pandemic.
Cuomo said the fastest rising positive test rates are hitting Long Island, with more than a thousand people testing positive in both Nassau and Suffolk counties over the past day, despite smaller populations.
“That is very troubling,” Cuomo said.
The governor praised health care workers and volunteers who have agreed to journey to New York as it battles the worst of the pandemic.
“I will never forget how people across this country came to the aid of New Yorkers when we needed it,” Cuomo said.
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