The federal government and FDA has signed off on New York state to run automated testing for coronavirus.
As of March 13, the number of cases of coronavirus in New York state has risen to 421, one ahead of Washington State. Governor Cuomo stated that New York has been given the authorization as of today.
This new automated testing will allow New York state to run 6,000 tests a day at the 28 labs that were contracted over the next week. To date, only 3,000 tests have been run in New York.
“I want to thank the president and the vice president for their receptivity to the idea,” said Cuomo. “Today the State Health Department will be going out to the 28 laboratories that [they] work with on complex testing matters and those 28 labs will be authorized to do testing.”
Out of the current 421 cases of coronavirus, 50 of those patients have been hospitalized, 18 of which were placed in the ICU. Cuomo noted that there are 53,000 total hospital beds, but only 3,200 ICU beds.
“This is where Italy got into trouble _ they didn’t have enough ICU beds to handle the number of patients who needed intensive care,” said Cuomo. “That is going to be a problem in this state and in this country, and that’s something that we have to watch very, very carefully.”
During the press conference, Cuomo stated that the more testing and diagnoses of coronavirus is not going to be a quick situation and that New Yorkers should prepare themselves accordingly.
“This is going to weeks, months – this is not going to be gone next week,” said Cuomo. “Prepare yourself. This is going to be everywhere. My guess is there are thousands and thousands of cases walking around the state of New York.”
