NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Staten Island’s Richmond University Medical Center is almost exclusively treating coronavirus (COVID-19) patients, the hospital said Tuesday.
RUMC could not provide an exact figure on how many non-coronavirus patients it is treating at the moment but said about 70% of its general hospital beds and ICU beds are currently occupied by patients being treated for coronavirus.
The hospital also said Tuesday that it is treating at least 79 patients who have tested positive for the disease.
The figures from one of the borough’s two private hospitals come as a 260-bed field hospital is set to be built at the South Beach Psychiatric Center to exclusively treat positive coronavirus patients.
Another 1,000-bed field hospital will be built at the College of Staten Island, which Rep. Max Rose has said he was working with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to set up because he believed the borough’s two hospitals were “rapidly approaching capacity.”
However, it is still unclear who exactly will staff the CSI field hospital, when it will open and whether the site will be for positive coronavirus patients or non-positive coronavirus patients.
RUMC spokesman Alexander Lutz said the hospital has not reached capacity yet, but is preparing to meet the demand of peak coronavirus cases, and will transfer non-coronavirus patients to “alternative sites” if it becomes a necessity.
Lutz would not say whether plans include specifically sending non-coronavirus patients to places like the CSI field hospital or the USNS Comfort Navy Hospital.
“We’re not transferring anyone yet, we’re putting plans in place well before we reach that point,” Lutz said. “We will have a plan in place, that if we do have to move non-COVID patients, that we have a plan in place to do that seamlessly with as little disruption to them as they are also being cared for. Those plans are being developed as we speak.”
The borough’s second private hospital, Staten Island University Hospital, would not provide a clear breakdown of how many non-coronavirus patients it is currently treating, but said that as of Tuesday it has the capacity to care for its medical-surgical patients as it looks for other areas it can covert to treat coronavirus patients.
“We have appropriately discharged patients to open up capacity and the cancellation of elective surgeries reduced inpatient volume as well,” said SIUH spokesman Christian Preston. “There are no immediate plans to transfer any patients, but we're exploring all options to deliver care.”
SIUH said Tuesday it was treating a total of 324 patients combined between its Ocean Breeze and Prince’s Bay locations.
Although it was not clear on Tuesday how many beds SIUH has available, coronavirus patients apparently made up more than half of all those being treated at the hospital; the hospital’s Executive Director Dr. Brahim Ardolic told the Advance last week that the hospital’s surge projection would bring it to a total of 519 beds.
RUMC also could not provide an exact figure Tuesday on how many beds are currently available at the hospital but said it had not yet reached the number of beds in its surge projection, about 310.
Altogether, the heads of Staten Island’s two private hospitals told the Advance they are currently able to expand to 829 ICU and general hospital beds combined.
In Manhattan, a field hospital has been set up at the Javits Center to make way for nearly 3,000 beds to treat non-COVID-19 patients, and the Navy’s USNS Comfort was deployed to Manhattan Monday to treat 1,000 non-coronavirus patients.
Asked last week whether he thought roughly 1,900 hospital beds was enough for the only borough without a public hospital to respond to the outbreak as Staten Island’s case total creeps into the thousands, de Blasio vowed to keep looking for more capacity on the borough as needed.
As of Tuesday morning, 77 people have died in the Island’s two private hospitals, as confirmed cases in the borough hit 2,314, according to the city’s latest figures.
FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER.
CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:
Latest on NYC school closures: Child care to be available for first responders
With restaurant dine-in option halted, Uber Eats waives delivery fees
MTA continuing to monitor service levels as coronavirus spreads
Amazon warns of slower deliveries, depleted stock amid coronavirus
Rumor of a mandated national quarantine is untrue and unfounded, White House says
S.I. to be first borough with drive-thru testing for coronavirus
Fact vs. rumor: America is not quarantined for coronavirus, National Security Council says
Coronavirus: NYC bars, restaurants limited to takeout and delivery
Lee’s Tavern to temporarily shut its doors amid coronavirus outbreak
Photos: Bare shelves inside Staten Island stores during coronavirus outbreak