Dire situation in New York State

[Sunset]

He did say that he would buy a new ventilator for any that are not returned. Which kind of begs the question, what are we going to do with all the excess ventilators when the crisis is over?

Use them next year when it comes back again, or continuously use them if it doesn't go away .

 

[Amethyst]

Not to mention invading Florida!

Although I guess once we need ventilators, we ain't traveling anywhere, at least not voluntarily.

Send ventilators to NYC so they can keep the infected people there and not spread it to far flung areas of the state.

 

[NameRedacted]

If, as some people seem to be claiming on this thread, it is perfectly acceptable and indeed recommended medical practice to move critically ill patients hundreds of miles to where the spare ventilators are, then why are they so upset that the Governor is borrowing 20% of the unused ventilators and moving them Downstate? Surely, if moving patients is no big deal then why does it matter so much to you where the ventilators are? By your reckoning it shouldn't matter if Upstate runs out of ventilators. They can simply move those patients Downstate.



The reality of the situation is that there is a much greater need for ventilators Downstate and all that is happening is that the Governor is allocating resources more efficiently.

 

[Aerides]

If, as some people seem to be claiming on this thread, it is perfectly acceptable and indeed recommended medical practice to move critically ill patients hundreds of miles to where the spare ventilators are, then why are they so upset that the Governor is borrowing 20% of the unused ventilators and moving them Downstate? Surely, if moving patients is no big deal then why does it matter so much to you where the ventilators are? By your reckoning it shouldn't matter if Upstate runs out of ventilators. They can simply move those patients Downstate.

The reality of the situation is that there is a much greater need for ventilators Downstate and all that is happening is that the Governor is allocating resources more efficiently.

The reality is none of us here know exactly what the criteria for patient transfer or ventilator transfer is, and should imagine the professionals involved have far more info and experience to make the right decisions.

So arguing about it is getting silly.

 

[ivinsfan]

If, as some people seem to be claiming on this thread, it is perfectly acceptable and indeed recommended medical practice to move critically ill patients hundreds of miles to where the spare ventilators are, then why are they so upset that the Governor is borrowing 20% of the unused ventilators and moving them Downstate? Surely, if moving patients is no big deal then why does it matter so much to you where the ventilators are? By your reckoning it shouldn't matter if Upstate runs out of ventilators. They can simply move those patients Downstate.



The reality of the situation is that there is a much greater need for ventilators Downstate and all that is happening is that the Governor is allocating resources more efficiently.

I'll follow the mods advice about not arguing but perhaps the patients need an actual bed and some staff support which the underused hospitals would obviously have at the ready. I'd say in NY a lot of things are going on that wouldn't be "acceptable".. but you gotta do what you gotta do...

 

[Amethyst]

To follow up on Aerides' comment, few of us are likely to have enough insight into the logistics involved, to debate in any informed manner. Even my remark about New Yorkers bringing coronavirus to Florida wasn't appropropriate, since it contains all sorts of assumptions I cannot prove and is really inspired by fear, versus a desire for knowledge.

But I think rhetorical questions such as "I wonder why they do such-and-such" are worthwhile, since a) someone here may actually be involved in medical logistics and b) the act of asking scratches an itch (it does for me, anyway).

I'll follow the mods advice about not arguing but perhaps the patients need an actual bed and some staff support which the underused hospitals would obviously have at the ready. I'd say in NY a lot of things are going on that wouldn't be "acceptable".. but you gotta do what you gotta do...

 

[Just_Steve]

Like Poughkeepsie?

Not much chance now of sending them to Duchess county, which now has over 1000 cases and has actually received extra ventilators.



https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2020/04/05/coronavirus-cases-dutchess-county-exceed-1-000-positive-cases/2950481001/

Anyway, this discussion is getting tiresome. Many upstate leaders, including D congress representatives are trying to fight the plan to strip upstate of ventilators. Hopefully none will be required and the situation doesn't get out of hand.

Dutchess county being a bedroom community for NYC with almost 50% of the workforce commuting downstate, these numbers were not unexpected. I actually thought the numbers would be much higher.

 

[NameRedacted]

The main takeaways I got from today's call.

• The curve seems to be flattening. He didn't explicitly say this, but the graphs he put up imply that the number of deaths is going to be lower than expected. We might be very near the peak now.
• Social distancing is working and he's increasing the maximum fine for violation of this to $1000.
• We have enough ventilators right now. This is because we received some from China, Oregon, Washington state and California, plus the reallocation of ventilators across the state.
• With the Javits center and possibly the USN ship switching to Covid-19 patients exclusively a lot of pressure has been released on the downstate hospitals.
• The Pause order has been extended until April 29th.

 

[Amethyst]

NYC should be collecting a lot of fines. Cuomo's talk featured photos of [-]idiots[/-] citizens crowded into Central Park to enjoy the nice weekend weather.

The main takeaways I got from today's call.

• The curve seems to be flattening. He didn't explicitly say this, but the graphs he put up imply that the number of deaths is going to be lower than expected. We might be very near the peak now.
• Social distancing is working and he's increasing the maximum fine for violation of this to $1000.
• We have enough ventilators right now. This is because we received some from China, Oregon, Washington state and California, plus the reallocation of ventilators across the state.
• With the Javits center and possibly the USN ship switching to Covid-19 patients exclusively a lot of pressure has been released on the downstate hospitals.
• The Pause order has been extended until April 29th.

 

[ivinsfan]

NYC should be collecting a lot of fines. Cuomo's talk featured photos of [-]idiots[/-] citizens crowded into Central Park to enjoy the nice weekend weather.

Also I've seen several places that 10% of the NYC police force is calling in sick..and yes I'd call in sick too to avoid interacting with morons like this.

I'm not accusing anyone of the "blue flu" but who knows..

 

[Amethyst]

All I could think of was Charlton Heston as Moses, warning the Israelites about the dire consequences of worshiping false idols - and the moment his back was turned, there they were, dancing around the golden calf. Because it was fun.

 

[ivinsfan]

All I could think of was Charlton Heston as Moses, warning the Israelites about the dire consequences of worshiping false idols - and the moment his back was turned, there they were, dancing around the golden calf. Because it was fun.

And because if they all did it how could there be any concequences....safety in numbers

 

[NW-Bound]

As can be expected, in NYC as in Europe and China, people who died before getting a PCR test would not be tested post-mortem, and would not be counted in the final death toll.

"Early on in this crisis we were able to swab people who died at home, and thus got a coronavirus reading. But those days are long gone. We simply don't have the testing capacity for the large numbers dying at home. Now only those few who had a test confirmation *before* dying are marked as victims of coronavirus on their death certificate. This almost certainly means we are undercounting the total number of victims of this pandemic," said Mark Levine, Chair of New York City Council health committee.

 

[NW-Bound]

NYC should be collecting a lot of fines. Cuomo's talk featured photos of [-]idiots[/-] citizens crowded into Central Park to enjoy the nice weekend weather.

They can also stroll around and view the field hospital set up right in the park. The tents below are set up by Mt. Sinai Hospital, right across the street, for COVID-19 patients.. People can view paramedics, doctors, and nurses in action while having a picnic. Nice!

 

[Chuckanut]

NYC should be collecting a lot of fines. Cuomo's talk featured photos of [-]idiots[/-] citizens crowded into Central Park to enjoy the nice weekend weather.

Hmm..... Be careful. A telephoto lens can be used to compress objects and make them look like they are much closer together than they are.

 

[Freedom56]

Governor Cuomo has been getting a lot of credit for daily briefing which have been factual and informative. However, credit should be given to the governors of Washington State and California who took action early to shut down the school system. Both Washington and California governors were smart to take the issue seriously from the beginning and consult both public health experts and bio-technology companies for their expertise. Their only mistake was to rely on the federal roll-out of the FDA approved test kits and using Qwest Diagnostics as the central lab for testing which became a serious bottleneck. This has been fixed. San Francisco was the first city to shut down followed by Los Angeles and then the State of California. So far the curves are much flatter in California but as the governor stated recently, testing has been lacking and low relative to the population size. However, he stated that testing will be ramping up (antibody testing) to better understand how many people have been infected followed to help understand who can return to work and who to isolate.

 

[lucky penny]

Governor Cuomo has been getting a lot of credit for daily briefing which have been factual and informative. However, credit should be given to the governors of Washington State and California who took action early to shut down the school system.

I did not follow politics, but recently got curious due to some posters' comments. Indeed, Cuomo and the NYC Health Commissioner initially did not take the virus threat seriously. I don't know when Cuomo turned around, but he did.

Credit to California & Washington (acting fast after the Seattle nursing home outbreak), but NY wasn't far behind. CA's schools shut down gradually from 3/13-18, though some were open longer. NY schools closed effective 3/18. California's statewide stay-at home order was effective 3/19 (SF 2 days earlier), NY's on 3/22.

Doubtless many people "initially didn't take it seriously" (who could imagine early on how serious it might be & how quickly things would develop?). But Cuomo shouldn't be lumped with NYC officials who minimized the threat for far too long, repeatedly gave inaccurate information about the virus & resisted closing the schools.

 

[Pellice]

I keep thinking of that apocalyptic scene when travel to and from Europe was suspended (maybe March 13?) and we were looking at many thousands of people crowded into the airports, particularly the entry and customs areas, standing packed for several hours. That continued the whole weekend. I wonder if the West Coast spiked when China travel was suspended, followed by the East Coast when European travel was suspended?

 

[jim584672]

April has arrived, doesn't this whole thing go away with the warmer weather? I could have sworn I heard this somewhere by someone back in February.

 

[audreyh1]

April has arrived, doesn't this whole thing go away with the warmer weather? I could have sworn I heard this somewhere by someone back in February.

That has been wishful thinking on the part of many folks. Tropical countries and Southern Hemisphere countries have had to deal with the virus, so it doesn’t “go away”.

 

[eytonxav]

That has been wishful thinking on the part of many folks. Tropical countries and Southern Hemisphere countries have had to deal with the virus, so it doesn’t “go away”.

I have heard the virus does best in cool dry air, and not so much in warmer moist air. I guess we'll have to wait and see if their is a weather effect or not.

 

[Dtail]

I have heard the virus does best in cool dry air, and not so much in warmer moist air. I guess we'll have to wait and see if their is a weather effect or not.

Not sure I believe this point. FLA has 13k+ cases and it is already solidly into the 80's every day now.
The Dominican Republic has close to 2k cases and it is over 80 degrees there every day of the year and usually fairly humid.

 

[lucky penny]

April has arrived, doesn't this whole thing go away with the warmer weather? I could have sworn I heard this somewhere by someone back in February.

I remember that too - speculation that this might be like the flu season, which typically ends as the weather gets warmer. I don't hear anyone saying that now.

 

[NameRedacted]

Mostly good news on today's briefing.


The numbers of intubations, ICU admissions and hospitalizations have been falling for 2-3 days now. Sadly, the deaths are up but that is a lagging indicator. It's looking as if we've reached a plateau now.


A lab in New York has developed a 15 minute test to check if you've had the virus and they're looking for help scaling that up with a view for developing a plan to restart the economy.


This has been the most optimistic briefing I've seen so far.

 

[GravitySucks]

I remember that too - speculation that this might be like the flu season, which typically ends as the weather gets warmer. I don't hear anyone saying that now.

I'm still hopeful this virus behaves like other corona viruses SARS and MERS and goes on its merry way.
I remember the call for a vaccine when SARS was hitting Toronto. One was never developed.
I remember being put in a yellow gown during the ME RS outbreak as I was under suspicion of having been infected. Both were corona type viruses and both seem to have petered out on their own.
This bugger may be much more infectious, but I'm hoping it's not going to be around forever.
SARS timeline:
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20030411/sars-timeline-of-outbreak#1
Keep isolating and washing your hands.