New York City has amassed enough ventilators to stay ahead of the coronavirus — but only for a few more days, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Sunday.
“We have bought a few more days here,” Hizzoner said during a City Hall press briefing. “We believe now we can get to Tuesday or Wednesday with the supplies we have.”
The mayor had previously warned that Sunday was “D-Day” with diagnoses rising and not enough ventilators to go around, but the city was able to get ahead of the curve, if only for a few days.
“My order to my entire team … is always to prepare for the worst-case scenario, not the best-case scenario, not what you think might be an average scenario,” he said. “Because God forbid the worst-case happens, we can’t say at that point, ‘Oh, gee, we underestimated.’ ”
De Blasio celebrated the victory, but also stressed that it’s only incremental.
“It’s good in one way that the original projection was cautious and that we have a few more days,” he said. “But I want to be clear, it only means a few more days, nothing more I can guarantee beyond that.”