Andrew Cuomo walks through Javits Center | Darren McGee/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo via AP Cuomo says New York hospitals will adopt statewide Covid-19 response

ALBANY — New York is asking hospitals to adopt a statewide approach to the coronavirus pandemic to prevent overcrowding, staffing strains and equipment shortages seen at New York City facilities in recent days.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who previewed the coordinated approach on Monday, said he has asked private and public hospitals across New York to share staff, patient loads and medical equipment so the state can optimize its capacity to respond to the virus before it reaches its apex in the coming weeks.


“We have New York City hospitals, then we have Long Island hospitals and then we have Westchester hospitals and then we have upstate hospitals — that has to go," Cuomo said during his daily news conference. "We are one health care system.”

The coordinated effort will initially send nurses, doctors and other medical professionals from upstate facilities to New York City, which has become the new epicenter for Covid-19, Cuomo said. It will also allow for transfers of patients, staff and supplies among all hospitals in the state, as well as new temporary federal health facilities.

But details surrounding when those transfers will occur, how they will be decided and who will pay for them are still being worked out.

“We’re all paying the costs — the hospitals are paying the cost, the state is paying the costs and I said to them, frankly, we’ll figure out the costs because this is about saving lives,” Cuomo said. “Who pays the bill should not determine whether or not people live or die. I said, do whatever we have to do to save lives and then we’ll figure out the bill afterward.”

The governor said the state Department of Health will lead a central coordinating team with Westchester, New York City and Long Island hospitals, as well as the Greater New York Hospital Association and Healthcare Association of New York State.

The team will organize upstate to downstate staffing; assist Elmhurst and other stressed NYC Health + Hospitals facilities; set intensive care unit thresholds and transfers; facilitate staffing recruitment and coordinate stockpiles.

As of Tuesday, New York had 75,795 confirmed cases of coronavirus — nearly 11,000 of those individuals are hospitalized, including 2,710 who are in intensive care units, Cuomo said. A total of 1,550 New Yorkers have died from Covid-19, up from 1,218 as of Monday.

The governor said the virus is expected to reach its apex in New York in the next seven to 21 days. As many as 140,000 hospital beds and 40,000 ventilators are expected to be needed to treat patients at the virus’ peak.

New York currently has 6,500 ventilators at downstate facilities, 4,400 from the federal government, 800 in the state stockpile and 1,000 that have already been distributed from the stockpile, he said. It has also ordered 17,000 more from China, but only expects a fraction of those — about 2,600 — to be delivered to New York in the next three weeks.

Marie J. French contributed to this report.