NYC shutdowns loom on horizon
Governor Cuomo and Dr. Fauci eye rising hospitalization rates in the city
BY MARK HALLUM
Governor Andrew Cuomo
is ordering 215 hospitals
across New York State to
prepare an additional 25%
capacity in order to handle
the caseload of coming
COVID-19 surges in the
coming weeks — increases
that could result in a return
to new “pauses” on New
York life.
Monday’s news conference
hosted by the governor
also virtually featured Dr.
Anthony Fauci in a showcase
of the state’s latest hospital
plan with a call for the
public to avoid family gatherings
going into the holiday
season as New York state
hit a 4.71% positivity rate
on Sunday.
According to Cuomo, if a
high statewide hospitalization
rate is sustained over a
course of five days, the state
may order indoor dining to
close entirely in New York
City. Whether or not these
measures would be lifted
prior to the vaccine hitting
critical mass was not something
Cuomo said he could
comment on at this time.
“The Jacob Javits Center,
for example, we did 2,000
beds. Dr. Fauci, it looked
like a field hospital in an
army, you just saw an ocean
of cots. And I just hope we
never have to get to that
point. Today, the Department
of Health is going to
issue an order saying hospitals
have to increase their
bed capacity 25%,” Cuomo
said. “We can issue up to
50%, they can do that physically
but we’re only going to
go to 25% because we don’t
have a capacity criticality at
this moment.”
Critical hospital capacity
will be considered at 90%,
Cuomo said.
According to Fauci, mid-
January is when the country
will begin to see the effects
of holiday travelers on infection
rates, especially with
people joining families for
Thanksgiving, boosting the
spread, and then gathering
again for Christmas, Hanukkah,
and New Years.
Smell gas,
act fast.
BRONX TIMES R 28 EPORTER, DECEMBER 11-17, 2020 BTR
“With regard to the issue
of the holiday spread and the
peaks are going to be superimposed
upon each other so
you would expect the full
length of the travel and the
family setting gatherings
with friends that you alluded
to as being a problem,” Fauci
said. “You’d expect that the
effect of the Thanksgiving
surge would be probably another
week and a week-anda
half from now, because
it’s usually two-and-a-half
weeks, from the time of the
event. The problem is, that’s
going to come right up to the
beginning of the Christmas,
Hanukkah potential surge
so you have a surge upon
a surge, and then before
you can handle that more
people are going to travel
over Christmas.”
With vaccines being made
available to a large chunk
of the population by April,
May, and June, Fauci agreed
with Cuomo’s assessment
that convincing the public
to accept the tincture formulated
by Moderna and Pfizer
with up to half the population
expressing skepticism
about the treatment.
Two doses will be required
28 days apart, meaning
that summer will be
about the time a significant
portion of the public is immunized
at a critical mass of
75% to 80%.
FILE PHOTO: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director
Anthony Fauci addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefi ng at
the White House in Washington, U.S., April 17, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/
File Photo
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