A surge of Covid-19 deaths struck a jammed New York City hospital during the past 24 hours.
The city health department reported that during the last 24 hours 13 people died of the viral disease, but that that figure is "consistent with the number of ICU patients being treated there."
The health department added, "Staff are doing everything in our power to save every person who contracts Covid-19, but unfortunately this virus continues to take an especially terrible toll on the elderly and people with preexisting conditions."
ABC News reported,
The health department put the city's Elmhurst area at "the center of this crisis," making it the "number one priority of our public hospital system right now."
The health department declared, "The frontline staff are going above and beyond in this crisis, and we continue surging supplies and personnel to this critical facility to keep pace with the crisis. We are literally increasing the effective capacity of the hospital on a daily basis by sending more doctors, nurses, ventilators and PPE [masks, gowns, gloves and other personal protective equipment] to meet demand."
Health officials urged New Yorkers to stay inside their homes and to avoid going to emergency rooms if their symptoms were mild or moderate.
Previously officials have said vulnerable seniors or people with other serious longterm ailments should contact doctors by phone or online. Because such individuals, when infected, can suddenly deteriorate, they should not be slow to contact doctors, officials have said.
The city health department reported that during the last 24 hours 13 people died of the viral disease, but that that figure is "consistent with the number of ICU patients being treated there."
The health department added, "Staff are doing everything in our power to save every person who contracts Covid-19, but unfortunately this virus continues to take an especially terrible toll on the elderly and people with preexisting conditions."
ABC News reported,
"Apocolyptic" was how one doctor described the scene inside the emergency room at the hospital in densely populated Elmhurst, a neighborhood in the city's most densely populated borough of Queens.A worried Mayor Bill de Blasio said the federal government had sent the city only enough supplies to keep hospitals going over the last 24 hours, but that thousands more ventilators were urgently needed.
"Right now, we're seeing double our average census every day," said Dr. Ben McVane. "We're filling up our ICUs. We have several floors now that are devoted only to Covid-positive patients. So we're finding ourselves getting close to being overwhelmed by patients. Some of these are very sick patients."
Elmhurst has a level one trauma center and is the hospital to which Rikers Island inmates are rushed in the event of an emergency at the city's jail complex.
The health department put the city's Elmhurst area at "the center of this crisis," making it the "number one priority of our public hospital system right now."
The health department declared, "The frontline staff are going above and beyond in this crisis, and we continue surging supplies and personnel to this critical facility to keep pace with the crisis. We are literally increasing the effective capacity of the hospital on a daily basis by sending more doctors, nurses, ventilators and PPE [masks, gowns, gloves and other personal protective equipment] to meet demand."
Health officials urged New Yorkers to stay inside their homes and to avoid going to emergency rooms if their symptoms were mild or moderate.
Previously officials have said vulnerable seniors or people with other serious longterm ailments should contact doctors by phone or online. Because such individuals, when infected, can suddenly deteriorate, they should not be slow to contact doctors, officials have said.
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