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WPCNR CORONAVIRUS REPORT. From the Governor’s Press Office. March 21, 2020 4 PM EDT:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the recommendation of the Army Corps of Engineers regarding four initial sites in New York State for locating temporary hospitals – the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and locations at SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Old Westbury and the Westchester Convention Center.

Over the past days, an inspection team led by the Army Corps of Engineers, and including state officials from the Office of General Services, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the Department of Health and the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, has visited more than a dozen sites to review for temporary hospital use.

Upon the Governor’s determination, the Army Corps is expected to immediately begin work to construct the temporary hospitals. The Governor is also requesting FEMA designate four field hospitals with 250 beds each for the state, intended for use in the Javits Center in addition to the temporary hospital to be constructed by the Army Corps.

Governor Cuomo also announced that the state is taking new actions to increase the supply of personal protective equipment – or PPE. The state has identified two million N95 masks for purchase and will send one million to New York City and 500,000 to Long Island.

President Trump speaking to the media today, said Hanes Hosiery Corp has converted their manufacturing facilities to furnish 25 Million masks within the next few days, and that Apple Corporaton is donating 2 Million industrial masks, in response to the government outreach to American businesses to step in and fill the mask gap. The President also advocated sanitizing used masks, instead of throwing them out. A doctor after the news conference said that reusing cloth masks was a practice that was approved by the CDC

It was estimated by the Assistant Director of Health and Welfare that since March 2, 10 million test kits had been delivered by FEMA and he expected 25 million test kits (schwabs) would be delivered nationally by March 27 approximately and that they are being manufactured now.

Vice President Pence, head of the President’s corona virus task force said that 165,000 tests had been conducted so far nationally, and of that figure, 19,343 persons had tested positive, 10%. The Vice President said this did not include county tests nationally, or private health centers. The New York State rate of those tested and found to be coronavirus infected is 20%.

Governor Cuomo reported apparel manufacturers in NY state are converting their operations to begin manufacturing masks and other medical equipment, and the state is also exploring manufacturing masks.

Additionally, NY state is gathering ventilators from different health facilities from across the state to be used in the most critical areas and has already purchased 6,000 additional ventilators.

President Trump announced that in a meeting with prominent medical doctors, he learned that ventilators used by anesthesiologists could be converted to ICU ventilators, by switching a filter screen. By doing so, converting ventilators on an as needed basis could alleviate temporarily the ventilator need.

The President urged hospitals and dentists to eliminate elective surgeries to conserve and make available hospital beds to coronavirus patients needing intensive care.

Governor Cuomo also issued an executive order temporary closing the Department of Motor Vehicles for all in-office visits. Online transactions, including for license renewals, are still be available. License and permit expirations will be extended.

The Governor also announced that federal government approved New York’s request for a major disaster declaration that allows FEMA to step in financially and assist the state. Under the current declaration FEMA will pay 75 of the funding and New York is responsible for 25 percent.

The Governor is urging the President and his administration to grant a 100 percent federal cost share under this declaration. The Governor urges the federal government to quickly grant the state’s pending request to support homeowners through additional individual assistance programs and statewide hazard mitigation assistance.

The Governor asked New York’s Congressional delegation to modify federal coronavirus legislation aimed at being passed Monday to ensure New York is eligible for $6 million in aid. Due to a current technical issue in the bill, New York State is not eligible to receive aid.

Additionally, the Governor announced that State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Zucker has recommended trials for new drug therapy to help combat COVID-19. The FDA is acquiring 10,000 doses of Hydroxychloroquine and Zithromax for New York State to use on a trial basis.

Incidentally, President Donald Trump today in his news conference advocated for using these drugs that have not yet been FDA-approved in limited use to see if they worked. The head of the Center for Disease Control urged full 1-1/2 year trials instead, because the effectiveness of these new drugs, Hydroxychloroquine and Zithromax was mostly “anecdotal.” President Trump added

New Yorkers can sign up to receive daily email updates on the evolving COVID-19 situation here and can ask questions about COVID-19 here. New Yorkers can also find more information about the new COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave Law here.

“Every day we see the number of cases of novel coronavirus continue to rise, and we know that by all projections we’re going to have more hospitalizations than we can deal with in our healthcare system,” Governor Cuomo said. 

“We have a plan of action to help stop the spread of this virus, including expanding hospital capacity and identifying new hospital beds, and after meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers and hearing their recommendations, we stand ready for the building of temporary hospitals at four facilities in New York State.

“This is a public health crisis, but worse than the virus is the fear, but we have a plan and we are doing everything we can to keep the people informed and save lives.”

President Trump in his national address urged citizens to follow instructions and restrictions put in place by their state and local governments. He announced that national academic achievement tests were suspended for this year.

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration said that FEMA would be responsibility for distributing supplies, but President Trump is allowing states to make purchases of needed equipment on their own.

The FEMA office said New York, California and Washington (state), the states with the most positive coronavirus victims would be handled first with other states told to submit their needs to local FEMA centers who would send those requests to FEMA in Washington, D.C.

Vice President Pence told the nation the f=goal is to turn around the curve of infections around in 15 days.

President Trump said, “We want to win this war with as few lives lost as possible.”