Nearly 300 Die in NYC in 24 Hours as Coronavirus Deaths Surge in NJ Nursing Homes

Four days. That's how long Mayor Bill de Blasio says New York City has to acquire enough medical supplies to last hospitals another week. The five boroughs are facing a crisis that claims hundreds of lives every 24 hours.

If millions of additional N95 and surgical masks, along with 400 more ventilators don't come through by April 5, de Blasio says hospitals could lose more people, simply because they lack the fundamental equipment to save them.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday the state sent another 600 ventilators to NYC, Long Island and Westchester the previous evening. He has 2,200 in the stockpile, which he says could empty in just six days "at the current burn rate" of 350 new patients a night.

Asked if he expected more ventilators from the U.S. government, Cuomo says he doesn't think the feds even have enough in the national stockpile to meet states' needs over the coming weeks. "Our attitude here is we're on our own," he said.

Critically ill COVID-19 patients need ventilators -- some stay on the machines for 20 to 30 days, far more than the typical two-to-three-day average for non-COVID-19 patients. There's less turnover -- and increasing need. A quarter of the state's hospitalized coronavirus patients are in ICUs. Cuomo has procured thousands of the life-saving machines over the last weeks and said Thursday he knows "where every ventilator is in the state." He's still trying to buy more, saying, "we are taking extraordinary measures to move ventilators to meet the need."

Видео Nearly 300 Die in NYC in 24 Hours as Coronavirus Deaths Surge in NJ Nursing Homes канала NBC New York