STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Both of Staten Island’s hospital say they’re ready to meet the new coronavirus (COVID-19) mandates Gov. Andrew Cuomo set on Monday, and prepared for what the winter might bring.
The governor announced a variety of new mandates for hospitals, which he called his “top concern,” ahead of a growing wave of cases around the state and nation.
“We’re going to have a problem with the hospitals, I’m telling you right now,” Cuomo said. “We’re going to manage it.”
Officials with Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) and Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) said that while recent upticks in infection rates around the globe have them concerned about public safety, the hospitals are in much better positions than at the start of the pandemic.
The spike in COVID admissions to SIUH necessitated the reopening of the South Beach Psychiatric Center field hospital, which is affiliated with Northwell Health — New York’s largest hospital system.
Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Battinelli said SIUH remains the system’s greatest concern, but that the larger Northwell system is prepared to meet the governor’s orders.
“We’ve been planning for a bit right now in anticipation of this, partly in response to the governor’s mandate,” he said. “We’re in sync with all of the mandates from the governor — well prepared, watching and monitoring daily — but we’re all good.”
As of Monday, SIUH had 157 COVID patients between its Ocean Breeze site and the field hospital, which currently has a 108-patient capacity, according to SIUH spokeswoman Jillian O’Hara. During the first wave in the spring, the field hospital provided step-down care for over 250 patients, according to O’Hara
She said in an email that the hospital still hopes to keep its Prince’s Bay site a COVID-contained care center to provide regular medical services to the community.
While Battinelli said that Northwell is prepared to deal with a surge, he urged the public to not take the virus any less seriously than they did in the spring.
“Regardless of whether we have capacity, it’s not good to have that many COVID-positive patients, because the disease, contrary to beliefs has not changed,” he said. “So we are still going to see many ICU patients, we’re going to see many deaths, and we are going to see long-term complications.”
RUMC has yet to see the the same uptick in patients as SIUH. Hospital spokesman Alexander Lutz said there are 23 COVID-19 positive inpatients, which represents a drop of three from yesterday. The number of COVID patients at RUMC has remained either in the low 20s or high teens throughout November.
Of those 23 patients, five are in the hospital’s ICU, and Lutz said that number has remained in single digits since June. If necessary, the hospital can increase its ICU bed capacity from 26 to 71 and our medical and surgery bed capacity from 128 beds to 239 beds as it did in the Spring, Lutz said.
“We are fully prepared for any large influx of COVID-19 patients,” Lutz said. “Our entire staff has the experiences of this past spring to draw from, which now includes the latest medically-proven treatments and therapies that were not available earlier in the year.”
Like Battinelli, Lutz urged members of the general public to recommit to anti-COVID efforts like hand washing, mask wearing, and maintaining social distance.
(Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a previous version that reported SIUH had transferred COVID-19 patients to other Northwell facilities. A hospital spokesperson said that SIUH has not transferred any patients off the borough.)