Hospitals, testing, schools top NY priorities

NEW YORK--As the impact from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend will be seen over the next few weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo released five areas of focus as the county heads into the winter season fighting the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The five targeted strategies include managing hospital capacity, increasing and balancing testing resources and availability, keeping schools open, preventing viral spread from small gatherings and to operationalize a vaccination program.
"While the holiday season often brings joy to many, the increase in social activity and mobility will also bring an increase of viral transmission," Cuomo said Monday, Nov. 30. "We understand the cause and effect, and the effect is dramatic. We must adapt to this reality and have a plan in place that specifically addresses the challenges that come with it. We've been through the worst, and while we're not done yet, we are moving forward with the lessons we learned in the spring to come through this together."
With over 3,500 people in hospitals fighting COVID-19, the plan tells health facilities to prepare for "surge and flex" operations, which attempts to balance patients across the state and not just within a hospital system.
"The cases are going to go up," Cuomo said at a briefing in New York City. "I want to make sure our number one priority is hospital capacity. That has always been my nightmare."
The department of health (DOH) along with hospitals will:
1. Identify retired nurses and doctors to bolster staff;
2. Erie County must suspend elective surgeries to create new bed capacity for COVID patients;
3. Balance patient loads across individual hospital facilities;
4. Prepare plans to utilize emergency field hospitals;
5. Prepare plans to increase hospital bed capacity by 50 percent;
6. Prepare plans to implement statewide 'Surge and Flex' operations;
7. Prepare plans to staff emergency field hospitals; and
8. Confirm availability of resources in existing stockpiles.
The DOH will also be launching a new statewide hospital metric tracking system.
New York will continue to expand testing and has highlighted kindergarten through eighth grade and special education as priorities for in-person education. Testing in schools becomes mandatory after a micro-cluster has been designated.
Cuomo added small gatherings have now been identified as the number one spreader of COVID-19, with at least 65 percent of all cases coming from these settings.
"While a vaccine is expected to be released in the coming weeks, it will be months before a critical mass of available vaccinations for the general public will be available."