Cuomo unveils 5-point ‘winter plan’ to fight Covid-19 in New York

ALBANY, NY – With more than 3,500 New Yorkers hospitalized with Covid-19, state health systems must begin preparing to increase their bed capacity, balance patient loads and identify staff – y including retired nurses and doctors – to work in emergency field facilities if needed, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.

The governor announced these measures as part of a new five-part “winter plan” that aims to fight Covid-19 through a new initiative from the Ministry of Health on hospital capacity, improved testing, kindergarten to grade 8 face-to-face learning, a public awareness campaign on small gatherings and vaccine distribution.

Referring to lessons learned when Covid-19 swept the state this spring, Cuomo said his administration would now focus on the number of coronavirus hospitalizations and hospital capacity. The yellow, orange and red zone designations under the state’s “micro-cluster” approach will now include the death rate, available hospital and intensive care beds and available staff, among others, did he declare.

The state is also adding an emergency stop provision, which would allow further restrictions in the event of a hospitalization crisis.

“We have lived this nightmare, we have learned from this nightmare and we are going to correct the lessons we have learned during this nightmare,” he said at a press conference late in the morning.

As part of this new effort, the DOH is asking all hospitals to immediately identify retired nurses and physicians who may be called upon to help fill staff shortages, as well as prepare staffing plans for emergency field facilities.

Hospitals also need to start balancing patient loads within their individual networks to ensure that a facility is not overwhelmed; plan to add up to 50% capacity; confirm their stocks of personal protective equipment; and prepare to implement statewide surge and flex plans to move patients between systems.

As of Friday, meanwhile, hospitals in Erie County – where Covid-19 cases have increased – must end elective surgeries. Other areas of the state may also see elective proceedings discontinued soon, Cuomo said.

Greater New York Hospital Association president Ken Raske, who virtually joined Cuomo’s press conference, said he was confident in the ability to tackle the growing number of coronavirus patients as part of an ongoing “team effort”.

Cuomo said the state will launch an emergency hospital capacity monitoring system to help monitor the situation at facilities. He will also investigate any hospital “overwhelmed” by patients. If a hospital circumvented the mandate to share the burden of patients, it would be “professional misconduct on their part,” he said.

“It was a serious issue the last time around, it was a first impression the last time around. This time, it’s not a first impression. I don’t mean to be difficult, but difficult is when people die because they haven’t received the right health care, ”Cuomo said. “So it is important to prepare for it.”

The governor also said the state is advising districts to keep schools open to younger children, especially kindergarten to grade eight, “where they are safe.” It released some changes to testing protocols in microcluster areas, saying 20 percent of students and staff in orange areas should be tested within a month. Thirty percent of school populations should be tested in red zones.

Cuomo hasn’t ruled out another statewide hiatus, similar to the shutdown he ordered this spring and a scenario that states such as California are now reliving in response to the fall surges.

But rather than further restrictions on restaurants and bars, he said he would continue to pursue his increasingly complex color-coded microcluster strategy. An orange zone designation, for example, may place moderate restrictions on public spaces where outbreaks have been identified “before you get to hit the pause button and shut everything down,” he said. .

The governor also backed the action by saying 65% of positive cases now stem from small gatherings rather than business activities – a problem he says can only be addressed through public education. He said he didn’t believe closing the “valve” on economic activity would have such an impact.

Cuomo’s administration had focused heavily on specific positivity rates for opening and closing schools and businesses in certain areas. But Cuomo says that as those rates exceed previously set thresholds – the statewide positivity rate reported on Monday was 4.57%, for example – the state is refocusing on hospitals.

Officials partly point to an increase in hotspot testing for the highest numbers, but the governor also says he doesn’t think a state can meet some of those previously set metrics – like the 3% rate. that officials had said was a reason to keep schools closed in New York City.

“They were all at the best of times and artificially low,” he said.

Michelle Bocanegra contributed to this report.