Coronavirus cases now doubling every three days across New York, peak expected to arrive faster and more aggressively

The number of coronavirus cases in New York is doubling every three days — significantly faster than anticipated, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today.

A higher rate of infection has resulted in a new projected peak of hospitalizations that is both much sooner and much higher than originally forecast.

“We haven’t flattened the curve,” he said today during a briefing at the Javits Center in Manhattan. “The curve is actually increasing.”

In 14 to 21, days, New York State is now projected to require 140,000 hospital beds and 40,000 ICU beds for coronavirus patients. There are currently about 53,000 hospital beds and 3,000 ICU beds across the entire state.

“Those are troubling and astronomical numbers,” he said. “We were looking at a freight train going across the country, now we’re looking at a bullet train — because the numbers are going up that quickly.”

With 25,665 confirmed cases, New York has more than half of the nation’s 46,000 cases and 10 times the amount of New Jersey, which has the second highest number of cases in the country. New York has also had 210 coronavirus deaths, almost double the amount of Washington State, which has the second highest number of deaths.

LIVE UPDATES: Coronavirus coverage, closings and cancellations.

“New York is the canary in the coal mine,” Cuomo said. “What happens to New York is going to wind up happening to California and Washington State and Illinois. It’s just a matter of time — we’re just getting there first.”

New York has implemented some of the most extreme social distancing measures in the nation, shutting down most non-essential businesses, closing schools and banning social gatherings of any kind.

“We have exhausted every option available to us,” Cuomo said.

Yesterday, Cuomo required hospitals across the state to develop a plan to increase their capacity by at least 50%, with a goal of increasing capacity by 100%. If every hospital in New York State increased beds by 100%, he said, that would have brought statewide hospital bed capacity to around 100,000, which is right around the previous projection of 110,000 forecast for the apex of the crisis.

But now models are predicting New York will need around 140,000 beds at the peak of the outbreak — a peak which is now projected to arrive much more quickly than expected.

Cuomo said he is willing to use all of the state university system’s campuses and dorm rooms to house patients, and that he is even in talks with hotel owners about using their facilities for overflow.

“I will turn this state upside down to get the number of beds that we need,” he said. But he added that New York does not currently have the healthcare staff or necessary equipment to make those beds useful.

Visibly distraught, Cuomo demanded immediate action from the federal government. He said the only way there is any hope of having the equipment and supplies to meet demand in two to three weeks is if the President implements the Defense Production Act, orders companies to manufacture the items that are needed, provides capitial and directly procures the equipment and supplies.

“The President said this is a war. It is a war. Then act like it’s a war,” Cuomo said. “When we needed bombs and missiles, did we say to companies, ‘Who wants to build some missiles?’ and wait for them to volunteer? Of course not.”

“We’re looking at an apex in 14 days,” he said. “If we don’t have the ventilators in 14 days, it does no good. I don’t need ventilators in six months. I need them now.”

New York State has been able to acquire about 7,000 ventilators. The state will need an additional 30,000 in as little as one to two weeks.

FEMA announced today that it is sending 400 ventilators to New York State, but Cuomo questioned why the government is not releasing the 20,000 ventilators currently in the federal government’s national stockpile in addition to that.

“400 ventilators?” he said. “We need 30,000 ventilators. You want a pat on the back for sending 400 ventilators?”

Cuomo grew angered by a question asking if the extreme measures that have been taken — devastating the local economy — are justified since the coronavirus disease is serious or deadly to a small proportion of the population.

He said he was stunned that people could even think that way — that the elderly, the sick, the most vulnerable are somehow not “worth” saving.

“We’re not willing to sacrifice 1 or 2 percent of New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. “It’s not who we are. It’s not what we are. It’s not what we believe. We are going to fight to save every life we can.”