Hundreds of federal health-care workers are arriving Sunday to reinforce New York City’s coronavirus-battered hospital system, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“We’re going to deploy all the federal personnel who are coming in today, 325 [workers] to the New York City public hospital system,” said Cuomo in his now daily Albany press briefing.
The contingent is the first wave of more than 1,000 saviors deployed by Washington, as announced earlier Sunday by federal Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
That group includes doctors, nurses and respiratory technicians, said Cuomo, who noted that the first arrivals will be bound for the hard-hit Big Apple.
“The immediate priority is to deploy those people to help the New York City public hospitals,” he said. “The New York City public hospital system … was a system that was under stress to begin with, before any of this.
“So, obviously, you add more stress to institutions that were under stress, it only makes the situation more difficult.”
The back-up is arriving as 122,031 diagnoses have now been made statewide, including 67,551 in the five boroughs — 4,245 of those new as of Sunday.
A total of 4,159 fatalities have now been reported statewide, an increase of 594 from Saturday, Cuomo said Sunday, as New York may now be entering the long-dreaded apex.