New York Gov. Cuomo reopens Covid field hospital in Staten Island as hospitalizations accelerate

New York will reopen a temporary field hospital on Staten Island to help treat an influx of coronavirus patients as the New York City borough faces a worsening outbreak, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.

“Staten Island is a problem,” Cuomo said during a press briefing. There were 91 people hospitalized with Covid-19 on Staten Island as of Sunday, a near threefold increase from three weeks ago, Cuomo said.

The field hospital was one of many New York opened in the spring as it fought back a wave of coronavirus infections that overwhelmed its hospital system and killed roughly 800 people every day. However, those emergency facilities largely went unused, Cuomo said.

“This was a planned emergency facility in the spring. We didn’t use it, now we need it,” he said.

Across the state, Covid-19 hospitalizations have jumped 122% over the last three weeks, he said, from 1,227 to 2,724 on Sunday. At that rate, the state projects thousands of more people will be hospitalized in the upcoming weeks. That’s before taking into account the upcoming holidays, which could accelerate the problem, the Democratic governor warned.

“These are dangerous times that we’re in,” Cuomo said. “Before you get to Thanksgiving, we’re already in a bad period.”

This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.