New Emergency Actions to Fight Covid-19 Wave

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the implementation of new emergency measures as the state shifts its focus to a sharp rise in Covid-19 related hospitalizations. The governor said that the strength of the virus’s second wave has forced the state to rely less on test positivity rates as the determinant for restrictions and focus more on hospital capacity. As such, the state has a five-point strategy for dealing with the winter spikes:

1. Hospital capacity
   1. Set metrics for Yellow, Orange, and Red Zones on hospital availability/demand
   2. Review/await post-Thanksgiving effect
   3. Meeting with hospital administrators
      1. Staff shortage, identify retired doctors and nurses NOW
      2. Stop elected surgery (Erie County)
      3. Individual hospital network load balancing mandated NOW
      4. Prepare emergency field hospitals plan
      5. Prepare to staff them
      6. Hospitals plan to add 50 percent bed capacity
      7. Prepare to implement statewide surge and flex
      8. viii. Confirm PPE stockpile
   4. Add an emergency stop (NY on Pause/ zone modification plan) if the hospital system is overwhelmed
2. Increase and balance testing
   1. Healthcare workers
   2. Nursing homes
   3. Schools
   4. Essential workers
   5. Business professionals
3. Safely open schools (K-8)
   1. Focus on special education and K-8
   2. Establish sustainable ongoing testing
4. Alert the public that small gatherings are the number 1 cause of the spread
   1. A small gathering is the NUMBER ONE spreader at 65 percent of all cases
   2. Behavioral shift during holidays and reduced socialization options
   3. Government ability to monitor and enforce small gatherings is limited
5. Prepare for vaccine rollout
   1. Vaccine delivery could begin in the next few weeks
   2. See initial framework

The governor has held off on issuing new lockdown orders in favor of the micro-cluster approach and the state wisely transitioned to using hospitalization rate/capacity as the measure by which any sort of lockdowns will be administered. The next few months will be difficult but if New Yorkers follow proper health and safety guidelines and avoid private gatherings, a catastrophic second large-scale lockdown can be avoided.

Print Friendly