MANHATTAN (WKBW) — The coronavirus outbreak is escalating in New York state and is expected to peak in 14-21 days, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday morning.
As of this morning, there were 25,665 confirmed cases in the state. More than half - 14,904 - were in New York City. The rate of increase nearly doubles every three days, Cuomo said, despite the drastic steps the state has taken to slow the spread including closing all schools, restaurants, gyms, shopping malls and movie theatres.
As the crisis continues, the governor said the state will need 140,000 hospital beds, 40,000 ICU beds and 30,000 ventilators to keep up with demand. Currently, there are 53,000 hospital beds and 3,000 ICU beds in all of New York.
The state is looking at converting hotels and college dorms into temporary hospital locations. The Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan is already being transformed into a makeshift hospital with 1,000 beds for the rising number of COVID-19 patients.
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