Due to the briefing from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday, local officials are looking into using Lakeshore Hospital as an extra medical facility. Cuomo issued an Executive Order allowing the state to increase hospital capacity to prepare the state’s healthcare system to handle the potential influx of patients suffering from COVID-19.
The brief included that the state will organize the National Guard and work with building unions and private developers to find existing facilities, such as dormitories, former nursing homes and former hospitals that can most easily be converted to medical facilities, with the goal of creating an additional 9,000 beds. The Governor asked local governments to help identify available facilities for this purpose. The State Department of Health is also suspending regulations to allow existing hospitals to increase space and capacity.
Lakeshore would be a perfect facility for extra beds, as it is already a medical facility. Local officials will be discussing the matter today in a meeting. Officials meeting include State Senator George Borrello and State Assemblyman Andrew Goodell. Borrello and Goodell have reached out to County Executive PJ Wendel about this possibility for Lakeshore.
“Our main priority right now is reducing the rate of spread of this virus so it can be managed by our healthcare system,” Cuomo said. “We have never fought a virus like this with this potential consequence, and I am taking executive action to reconfigure and increase capacity at hospitals across the state to ensure our healthcare facilities can handle a potentially massive surge of patients. We are fighting a war against this virus and the state will continue taking every step necessary to prepare for and mitigate the impacts of this virus.”
Published by Observer Today
