STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- President Donald Trump was given a 100-page federal report last Friday with detailed action and agency coordination plans for the federal government to respond to COVID-19, or the coronavirus, as well as on ominous outlook on the effects of the virus.

One major issue is that COVID-19 is “difficult to forecast and characterize."

The plan warned policymakers that COVID-19 will “last 18 months or longer,” and could include “multiple waves” that could result in widespread shortages and could put a strain on the national healthcare system, the New York Times reported.

Critical shortages of diagnostic and medical supplies, as well as staffing in healthcare facilities, was mentioned in the report.

New York’s leadership has already expressed the same concerns.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly said that the state does not have enough ventilators to handle the number of COVID-19 patients, stating the virus will likely peak in the next five to six weeks. The state is expected to need between 25,000 and 37,000 ICU beds and is preparing for 110,000 hospitalizations.

New York City said it would need to be replenished with supplies by April or risk dire consequences, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The city will need 3 million N95 face masks, 50 million surgical masks, 15,000 ventilators, and 25 million of each surgical gowns, coveralls and gloves, he said.

“They may sound like daunting numbers at first but given the extraordinary production capacity of this country, they are very much achievable if our nation is put in a war footing and our president uses the powers he already has to coordinate and to prioritize through the private sector the production we need,” de Blasio said.

Pentagon officials told Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper it would provide federal health workers with five million respirator masks and 2,000 specialized ventilators.

According to the Times, the plan included information on invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950, which allows the president to take “extraordinary action” to force American industries to ramp up production of critical equipment and supplies.

Trump said the government is “able to do that if we have to.”

“If I want it, we can do it very quickly. We’ve studied it very closely over two weeks ago, actually. We’ll make that decision pretty quickly if we need it. We hope we don’t need it. It’s a big step,” Trump told reporters according to the Times.

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TRUMP DEPLOYING USNS COMFORT TO NEW YORK HARBOR

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that President Trump made the decision to send the USNS Comfort, which contains about 1,000 beds, to New York City.

“It’s literally a floating hospital, which will add capacity, and the president said that he will dispatch that immediately,” Cuomo said.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), the ship is currently in Norfolk, Virginia, for maintenance. The Navy has been asked to expedite the work. However, Jonathan Rath Hoffman, assistant to the defense secretary for public affairs, said it could take “a little while” before the repairs will be complete.

BOROUGH HOSPITALS INCREASING CAPACITY

Staffs at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) and Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) are aiming to maximize their capacity well ahead of the potential surge in hospitalizations.

“We are planning for the worst-case scenario,” said Alex Lutz, a RUMC spokesman.

Comprehensive plans are in place to double RUMC’s hospital bed capacity of about 470, Lutz said, which includes utilizing medical tents — secured with the help of multiple elected officials, including Borough President Jim Oddo and Rep. Max Rose (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn).

Both Staten Island University Hospital campuses have a plan to deploy medical tents if the situation requires them to do so, spokesman Christian Preston said.

“If needed, the tent has full utilities (electricity, hot and cold running water, and heat and air conditioning) and would be used to triage patients, assess their condition and, in most cases, discharge home for self-quarantine,” he said. “Patients with more severe cases would be admitted to the hospital for treatment.”

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