Posted on 04/06/2020 12:34:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An executive order that says the state can take ventilators
As deaths spiraled upward in New York City and downstate suburbs, Governor Andrew Cuomo Friday announced that he was scrambling to find more of the ventilators that keep the sickest COVID-19 patients alive.
"We could have people dying because there are no ventilators, but there are hospitals in other parts of the state that have ventilators that they're not using," he said.
Governor Cuomo shown opening the state's first drive-through COVID-19 mobile testing center in New Rochelle as the pandemic first hit NYS. Photo: Office of Gov. Cuomo Much of Cuomo’s effort to make New York health providers cooperate and coordinate care through this crisis has been voluntary. He’s urged hospitals to share patients and resources. But on Friday he took an additional and controversial step, announcing he might seize equipment and redistribute it even if hospitals say no.
"I'm going to sign an executive order that says the state can take ventilators and personal protective equipment from institutions that don't need them now and redeploy them," Cuomo said.
Within hours, state and federal lawmakers Upstate and here in the North Country were rallying against this idea.
"This is of grave concern to the hospitals in my district," said Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
Of the 4,159 New Yorkers who’ve died from COVID-19, a tiny fraction – only around five – lived here in the North Country. Most of the regions hospitals haven’t yet seen a surge of people sick with the virus. Most ventilators here are unused.
But Stefanik says if this region’s small hospitals give up any of their equipment it could leave people vulnerable. "I represent the highest percentage of seniors in New York state of any congressional district, individuals who are the most vulnerable," she said.
Other prominent North Country lawmakers including Republican state Assemblyman Mark Walcyzk from Watertown and Republican Assemblyman Dan Stec from Queensbury also blasted the plan.
Some Democrats also urged Cuomo to reconsider his executive order, which by Sunday still hadn’t gone into effect.
Cuomo says North Country will eventually get help from other parts of NY Asked about this yesterday, Governor Cuomo said he believes that if Upstate hospitals give up 20 percent of their unused ventilators, it could total roughly 500 machines.
He said this kind of redistribution will eventually benefit all parts of the state.
We're not going to lose a life because we didn't share resources among ourselves"This virus will overwhelm the resources of any single community," he said. "We will come to a point where the wave will run right through the state. We're going to do that [redeployment of equipment] for Albany and Rochester and Syracuse and the North Country. We're not going to lose a life because we didn't share resources among ourselves." Hospitals in the North Country have very few ventilators. If COVID-19 does continue to build here, spreading aggressively, the region will almost certainly need help from other parts of the state.
NCPR asked Congresswoman Stefanik about this during her conference call with reporters on Friday. Does it make sense for the North Country to withhold aid while other parts of New York are in need now?
"I represent twelve counties in the North Country," she said. "I don't represent other parts of New York state. My job is to advocate for the hospitals and the people of my district. I cannot overestimate how many messages, calls, texts, etc. we are getting from very, very concerned constituents who live in this district.
The Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents hospitals statewide, issued a neutral statement about Cuomo’s executive order.
"Our hospitals will continue to rise to the occasion," the organization said on its website. "They will strike the right balance, protecting their local community members while doing everything they can to save lives throughout New York."
I live in Queens, but I will concede that I do see that attitude a lot.
It's always amusing when I have to break the bad news to geographically challenged midwest transplants living in Bushwick and complaining about "bridge and tunnel people" or "people who live on Long Island," that they too are B&T people living on Long Island. They usually get pretty pissed off.
“This could end with a local Sheriffs Dept. vs. State Police shootout in front of a hospital someplace.”
Most likely...no.
We dealt with the state police in our sheriff department, and they’re weenies. State police are prissy meter maids designed to raise revenue via speeding tickets.
There is also Western NY. Close to PA and Ohio borders . It is just as far from NY City as upstate and we hate them just as much.
>>There is a NY governor sitting on a warehouse stockpile of ventilators that he’s not releasing <<
Perhaps he does not want to reveal that those thousands of ventilators in the warehouse are empty boxes, and they had been stolen and re-sold.
In Cuomo’s world, there is New York CITY & NOTHING else.
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