NYC Mayor Says U.S. Is Unprepared for Coming Hospital Surge
(Bloomberg) --
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the U.S. is “not in a position” to deal with the hospital crisis that will happen when cases of the new coronavirus surge.
The nation has days, not weeks, to prepare, de Blasio said Friday in an interview on MSNBC. He urged the federal government to create a national enlistment of medical personnel.
Without such a draft, “we’re going to see hospitals simply unable to handle so many people who could be saved,” the mayor said.
More than 1,500 people have died in New York City from Covid-19, and “we have not even gotten to the hard part of this,” de Blasio said.
De Blasio said the city of 8.6 million people only has enough ventilators to get to Sunday or Monday.
“Next week is what worries me,” the mayor said. “The nation’s not on a war footing, and yet we’re fighting a war.”
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