New York in need of 110k hospital beds

New York is in desperate need of at least 110,000 hospital beds to deal with the growing number of coronavirus cases, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo, as the number of infected people in the state surged to 4,152 Thursday afternoon.

The state currently has 53,000 beds but needs double that amount over the next five days amid fears that cases could increase significantly in the next 45 days, the governor said.

Cuomo told a news conference in Albany: "Right now, in New York specifically, the rate of the curve suggests that in 45 days, we could have up to an input of people who need 110,000 beds that compares to our current capacity of 53,000 beds, 37,000 ICU units."

Cuomo said the state also needs more ventilators, and has only 3,000 now.

"That's our main issue," he said.

On Thursday, 23 percent of people diagnosed with COVID-19 in New York were hospitalized. The rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 cases in the state is higher than the global average of 10 percent.

New York City alone reported 3,615 positive cases, while there are 4,152 in the entire state, with 22 deaths. The number of infected cases was up from 1,339 Wednesday due in part to increased testing after Cuomo said the state had processed 7,584 tests.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would send a floating ship that doubles as a hospital to the state. The ship, The USNS Comfort, is usually docked at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.

It was transformed from an oil tanker into a 1,000-bed hospital ship – with operating rooms that will be docked on Manhattan's West Side in a week. It would take on trauma and other non-virus patients, to relieve hospitals dealing with COVID-19.

Trump said at a news conference at the White House that Carnival Cruise Lines said its ships could be used as temporary hospitals to fight COVID-19 – but the details of when or in which state the ships would be stationed were not revealed. It's believed the cruise ships could be repurposed to serve as hospitals with up to 1,000 rooms to treat non-urgent patients.

Several other solutions are being considered by officials to drum up more beds. Cuomo said that convention centers like the 1.8 million-square-foot Jacob Javits Convention Center; New York University's dormitories; empty hotels and even sporting arenas such as Madison Square Garden are being looked at.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio identified another potential 1,300 additional beds (600 in a former nursing home in Brooklyn, 270 at hospitals in the Bronx, and 350 beds in Coler Specialty Hospital on Roosevelt Island).

In the US, the number of those infected with the virus reached 10,919 as of Thursday afternoon. The death toll was 163. Worldwide, the number infected stood at 235,701, and the death toll is 9,786, according to data from John Hopkins University.

On Thursday, Cuomo enacted stringent measures to stop the spread of the virus in New York by telling employers that 75 percent of non-essential workers must stay at home.

However, essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies, healthcare and shipping were exempt. He resisted calls to enact a "shelter in place" plan for residents.

New York City opened its first drive-through testing site on Thursday in the parking lot of the South Beach Behavioral Health Center off Seaview Avenue on Staten Island.

Nationwide, the US president sought to calm Americans on Thursday at his daily news conference. He said that antiviral drugs – chloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, and remdesivir, an experimental antiviral — were being fast tracked by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the treatment of COVID-19.

But more than eight weeks after the first US case of the virus was reported, many local and state officials and medical professionals said that the federal government is still struggling to roll out testing.

Laboratories are reporting shortages of supplies needed to run the tests. And there is a widespread shortage of face masks, swabs, ventilators and other essential supplies, medical professionals have said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised: "In settings where face masks are not available, [health-care providers] might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort. Caution should be exercised when considering this option."

Trump said that he has enacted the Defense Production Act, which gives the president authority to ask manufacturers to prioritize ramping up production of essential materials and goods needed in a national security crisis.