BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Governor Cuomo's executive order has many in Western New York Concerned. The order would allow unused equipment from private health care organizations to be taken and placed in hospitals that need them the most in New York City.
"We are seeing rapid increases in the amount of COVID-19 cases, and we have not even saw the half of it yet," said Darius Pridgen, President of the Buffalo Common Council.
Pridgen's daughter was on a ventilator after she tested positive for the Coronavirus. He said he's worried a family from Western New York might not have a ventilator because of the order.
"If my daughter had not have had that ventilator, and I want to be clear, my daughter in not in Buffalo. My daughter is in a smaller hospital in Niagara Falls, N.Y. So already their resources are very limited," he said. "What would have happened? Not only to my daughter but the other people who are in ICU right now, or who will be?"
Nicki Fernandes had the Coronavirus and recovered. She wasn't on a ventilator but said she did need to be put on oxygen.
Fernandes said she believes more ventilators are needed.
"There's going to be more sick people than there will be ventilators and that's going to be damning. This does attack your respiratory system, you can't breathe," she said. "So I'm grateful, I'm one of the lucky ones that didn't need to be ventilated, but I do know people that are and some people might not make it because we don't have a ventilator that's going to be a tragedy."
ECMC released a statement that stated the executive order will "place our patients and community at risk and weaken our preparation for the anticipated COVID-19 surge in Western New York."
