dealing with covid
MASK UP
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo offered more specifics on Wednesday for how a coronavirus vaccine will be distributed in New York State, and laid out plans for how hospitals should deal with the surging number of cases in the state.
Mr. Cuomo said New York City would get 72,000 of the initial vaccine doses once the state receives them, which may be as soon as this weekend. Long Island will get 26,500 of the initial doses, he said, and the Mid-Hudson region 19,200.The governor said the allocations were based on the number of nursing home residents and workers in each region, as well as the number of high-risk medical workers; those groups are the first priorities for vaccination.
In his letter, Dr. Zucker called on individual hospitals and systems to alert the state before they reach 80 percent of capacity, and even earlier during a surge.
He also asked hospitals to report staffing or personal protective equipment shortages as well as bed occupancy. Nursing homes are required to have a 60-day stockpile of personal protective equipment, and hospitals must have 90 days’ worth.
“As we learned in the spring, keeping a watchful eye on capacity ensures that there is support in place and/or alternative plans to prevent any facility from being overwhelmed,” Dr. Zucker wrote.
Mr. Cuomo also said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had agreed to allow undocumented immigrants to receive vaccinations without having to provide identifying information, setting aside a Trump administration requirement. that has caused consternation in some states
Administration officials have said collecting names, addresses, birth dates, ethnicities and other information was “critically necessary” to ensure that people receive follow-up doses and to assess the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety.
Mr. Cuomo, however, said that it would seem as if “you were trying to use the vaccination to identify undocumented people,” and that it could undercut the vaccination drive.
“If undocumented people don’t get vaccinated,” he said, “it compromises their health, and it compromises the whole program.”
The governor also said the state had joined a program that would allow pharmacy employees to vaccinate employees and residents at nursing homes.
In Mr. Cuomo’s first virtual briefing — a precaution taken because of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state and country — the governor said that on average, 5.44 percent of tests in the state were coming back positive. He said 4,993 people were hospitalized with Covid-19.
Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City made a rare appearance at the briefing to join Mr. Cuomo in calling for Congress to provide more federal relief money to help the state recover economically from the pandemic.
— Daniel E. Slotnik
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The next people in line are residents and employees of long-term and congregate care facilities; then emergency medical service and other health care workers; then other kinds of essential workers; and finally, the rest of the population.
Mr. Cuomo discussed the state’s “surge and flex” program, which is intended to keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed by transferring patients when necessary.
He said Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, had written a letter to hospital and nursing home administrators outlining how to prevent overcrowded conditions, which proved disastrous in the spring.
“This is a hospital capacity crisis,” Mr. Cuomo said, warning that “they’re going to have to be extraordinarily flexible and nimble to handle the additional caseload that is coming up.”
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