Note: This interview is from March 3 and was based on conditions then. The situation has changed significantly since. The advice given here was accurate at the time of publication, but some has now become outdated.
NEW YORK CITY — As the new coronavirus spreads across the globe, New Yorkers have been tasked with taking precautions without panicking.
To help with that endeavor, Patch collected information about what New Yorkers can expect to find in city hospitals from the city’s top health officials and medical professionals.
Dr. Stephen G. Baum, a distinguished professor specializing in infectious diseases at Albert Einstein College in The Bronx, confirmed Tuesday the city’s recommendations that New Yorkers just go about their daily lives.
“I’m going to concerts for which I have tickets and going to restaurants I want to eat in,” Baum said. “Anything you want to do this week, you have my blessing.”
But his advice came with a disclaimer:
“This is a rapidly moving situation,” Baum told Patch. “Any advice may be drastically changed.”
Patch will update this document as needed, but as of March 3, here is what health officials and experts have to say to New Yorkers.
How should New Yorkers be thinking about COVID-19?
Dr: Baum: The more we think of this disease like influenza, the less mystifying it gets. There’s an infinite number of infective agents, and they’re going to surface from time to time. People are understandably agitated and worried about this, but I think it’s a little bit too early to get as agitated as they are.
How will NYC hospitals accommodate COVID-19 patients?
Mayor Bill de Blasio: We have immense capacity …. New York City hospitals have 1,200 beds on reserve for potential COVID-19 patients that won’t compromise other health care services.
Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals: We have 11 acute-care hospitals, five nursing facilities and 60 outpatient care sites.
Dr: Baum: Most intensive care units are built with negative-pressure rooms (rooms where air rushes inward when the door opens). There are usually not more than four or six in a hospital.
Will COVID-19 strain hospitals once more patients start coming in? And how will hospitals cope?
de Blasio: If lots of people suddenly come in — and, obviously, the vast majority of them, thank God, will not have coronavirus — of course it creates a challenge. But we’ve made a strategic decision to say to people, “We rather you come in.”
Dr: Baum: This is going to become a triage situation. The threshold for who gets in is probably going to get higher as time goes by, as it should. The good news is that it looks like 20 percent of people have severe enough disease to require hospitalization. That 20 percent could be relatively easily accommodated.
Who is most vulnerable, and should those people avoid hospitals for non-urgent care?
Dr: Baum: Older males who smoke a heck of a lot and live in polluted air. (I think that’s why it’s so devastating in China — that’s much of their population.) Those people should avoid crowded areas. That person is definitely at greater risk and facing a worse outcome.
When should New Yorkers go to the hospital, and when should they avoid it?
Dr: Baum: Something that would make you call an ambulance before has got to make you call an ambulance now. If you’re having a heart attack, or anything that would call for a 911 ambulance, I think you must still do that. But if your doctor’s on vacation and you’ve cut your finger, I’d try to go somewhere else other than an emergency room. Find a less-crowded UCG [urgent care group] and get your finger stitched there.
What about New Yorkers without primary care doctors?
Dr: Baum: If you’re using a hospital bed to get your standard care, that’s not a great idea. Those people who don’t have their own physicians, I would prefer going to an urgent care center than a hospital room — although, if they get overcrowded, that recommendation might go.
What’s the criteria for testing for COVID-19 in New York City?
de Blasio: If you have the symptoms and you have a nexus to travel to the affected countries …. You just need to get to health care immediately.
[See how New York City doctors are accessing and managing potential coronavirus cases here.]
What should uninsured and undocumented New Yorkers who fear they have COVID-19 do?
de Blasio: If someone does not know where to turn because they don’t have insurance or they may be undocumented, but they are fearful that they have the condition, they can reach out to 311 and get a location to go to; they can go to any New York City public hospital or clinic.
What precautions should New Yorkers take?
Dr: Baum: Good hygiene for yourself is the most important factor. Try to follow precautions about hand-washing.
Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York City Health Department Commissioner: It’s the basic messages of hand-washing, covering your mouth when you cough. And if you’re not close to a water source, then you should by all means use alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
[Read the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control preparation recommendations here.]
Should you head to the hospital as soon as you suspect you’ve got COVID-19?
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de Blasio: Hospital is not the first go-to. … [But] get to health care — we will sort it out. Call ahead, when you can, to maximize the protocols.
Dr: Baum: If [hospitals] get filled up with people who shouldn’t be there, things could get messy. We don’t want to make hospitals more of a breeding ground than they need to be.
[The City recommends anyone unsure of whether or not to seek hospital care call 311.]
What’s the test that rules out coronavirus like, and how reliable is it?
Demetre Daskalakis, Health Department deputy commissioner: The doctor will stick an unpleasant swab in your nose and twist it. Then send it to the laboratory to do molecular testing. … Should come back in a matter of hours.
de Blasio: If it’s pneumonia, you do not have coronavirus.
Should New Yorkers cancel upcoming elective surgery?