BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says hospitals in Western New York will be increasing hospital and ICU beds in the next few days.
Poloncarz says this is due to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's surge capacity rules.
Erie's hospitals reported 80% of all beds occupied, 55% of all ICU beds occupied, on Dec. 11. I've been informed area hospitals will be increasing beds in the next few days under @NYGovCuomo "surge capacity" rules. As such, the capacity numbers should change for the better. 2/2
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) December 13, 2020
Under the surge capacity rules, hospitals have been mandated to expand capacity by 25 percent and regions are to be designated as red zones if hospital capacity is projected to become critical.
As of Saturday, the Western New York region percentage of available hospital beds is 26 percent, while the percentage of available ICU beds in Western New York is 47 percent.
