New York City is currently the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the United States—and over the past 24 hours, Elmhurst Hospital in Queens saw at least 13 patients die as the surge in cases continues.
According to CNN, NYC Health and Hospitals and Elmhurst Hospital released a statement noting that staff is doing everything possible to save patients and to meet the unprecedented demand for personnel and supplies in the face of the pandemic.
“The frontline staff are going above and beyond in this crisis, and we continue surging supplies and personnel to this critical facility to keep pace with the crisis,” the statement said. “We are literally increasing the effective capacity of the hospital on a daily basis, by sending more doctors, nurses, ventilators and PPE to meet demand.”
The New York Times reports that the 545-bed hospital is also transferring patients not suffering from the novel coronavirus to other hospitals, so that it can devote itself solely to battling the virus.
“It’s apocalyptic,” said Dr. Ashley Bray, a 27-year-old general medicine resident at Elmhurst told the Times.
Of the 69,197 confirmed cases in the U.S., there are 33,033 confirmed cases in New York, according to data taken this morning from Johns Hopkins University.
The situation in the state has spiked to such a degree that the White House issued a directive ordering all individuals leaving the state of New York to self-quarantine for 14 days.
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