If the state of New York were a country, it would have the highest rate of CoVid 19 cases per million inhabitants in the world. By far. As of 8:00 AM this morning, 27 March, New York clocked in with 38,987 cases, up more than 8,000 cases, or 27%, from two days ago. With 19.54 million people, New York’s rate of CoVid 19 cases is 1,995 per million inhabitants. The country with the highest rate is Switzerland with 1,387 cases per million inhabitants. But Switzerland only has 8.6 million people.
The populations of Spain, Italy and France are two to three times that of New York’s; Germany’s four times. So, New York would rank as a relatively small, but still respectably-sized, European country.
Looking at the dire predictions of most experts, Governor Andrew Cuomo believes New York is going to need 30,000 ventilators, and it’s going to need them about two weeks from now.
Donald Trump does not agree. He doesn’t see the need. At his daily… well, what would you call it? It’s certainly not a traditional press briefing. But, whatever you’d call it, yesterday he downplayed the need, and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Corona Virus Response Coordinator, whatever that means, sort of backed him up. Sort of. But we’ll get to that in just a moment.
Last night, talking with Sean Hannity, who may be the sub rosa White House Coordinator, Trump said, “I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be. I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You go into major hospitals sometimes, and they’ll have two ventilators. And now, all of a sudden, they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'”
“I have a feeling.” ” I don’t believe.” Think about that for a minute and ponder the implications.
But back to Dr. Birx, who is skilled at nuance. What did she say about Cuomo’s request for ventilators? She said she was told New York had enough ventilators “to meet current needs.” She said that, while New York City may have a shortage of ventilators at the moment, there are other parts of the state “that have lots of ventilators and other parts of New York state that don’t have any infections right now.”
Unpack what Dr. Birx said and you find she is careful to talk about what is needed right now. Cuomo is talking about what will be needed in two weeks when the proverbial fecal matter has hit the whirring instrument head on.
Right now New York has scrounged up about 15,000 ventilators, half the ventilators Cuomo and his experts say they’ll need in two weeks.
The White House Corona Virus Response Team has a choice here. It can either look at New York with a panoramic view, or continue to pretend they’re glimpsing an arrow as it whizzes past a crack in the door.
If you were making the ventilator decisions, which view would you want?
Tags: health policy
