Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday said during a press conference he would sign an executive order allowing the government to seize unused ventilators in New York state and redistribute them to hospitals in need as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
“The National Guard are going to be deployed to pick them up across the state, and deploy them to places that we need them,” Cuomo said during a press conference on Friday.
He estimated that about several hundred ventilators would be redistributed.
“Am I willing to deploy the National Guard and inconvenience people for several hundred lives? he asked. “You’re damn right I am.”
Cuomo said the executive order would also apply to unused medical PPE.
“We are running out of ventilators and we could have people dying because there are no ventilators,” he said.
Arizona man accused of plotting mass casualty attack on religious site with ‘cookbook’ tied to OKC bombing
Massachusetts GOP ticket rocked by alleged drunken crash as candidate abruptly halts campaign
Trump unveils plan to transform historic DC golf course as judge tees off
How 1 Single Gun Magazine Could Soon Lead SCOTUS to Upend How Judges Sentence Criminals
Trump Officials May Soon Unleash Blacklisted Tankers to Cut Record Shipping Costs
New Jersey City’s Firearm Permitting Process Is so ‘Egregious’ the Trump DOJ Is Now Launching an Investigation: Report
Heroic Taco Bell Worker Thwarts Would-Be Mass Shooter Who Targeted Place of Worship: Report
Driver released without charges after pickup kills boy, 6, and man on Kansas soccer field
What to know about the Alberta referendum on leaving Canada
Photos show aftermath of riots as masked groups clash with police across France
Pro-Israel leader warns Democrats failing to condemn ‘vicious Jew haters’ in Congress
Slotkin wants GOP prosecutions to deter young people from Trump administration jobs
Trump says Netanyahu needs to be re-elected, or else US will have to ‘finish the job’ against Iran alone
Brother of possible OJ Simpson accomplice claims he returned with bloody hands on night of murders: report
Obama backs Ilhan Omar amid probe, accuses Trump admin of ‘appalling’ targeting in lengthy statement
Cuomo said he would issue the order to prevent people from dying.
“I’m just not going to allow us to go there, I think it would be wholly irresponsible,” he said, noting that upstate New York hospitals did not have as many cases.
Cuomo said that hospitals would get their seized ventilators back when the need was filled or the state would pay for them.
“I apologize for the hardship to those institutions, ultimately there is no hardship, if you don’t get the ventilator back, I give you my personal word I will pay you for the ventilator,” he said.
“Don’t use the word ‘seize,’” Cuomo said to reporters, calling it a “harsh word.”
“It’s sharing of resources,” he said.
Story cited here.
