New York: New York City’s coronavirus death toll surpassed 1,000 on Tuesday as an overwhelmed health system embraced the arrival of hundreds of additional paramedics, EMTs and ambulances.
The lifeline of health care support includes 500 paramedics and EMTs and 250 more ambulances, city officials said.
Among those who died in the city was the first victim under 18, according to the city’s health department.
A somber-sounding Gov. Andrew Cuomo said early Tuesday that more than 300 new deaths had been reported in the state in the previous 24 hours, a number rendered obsolete just hours later by the virus that has infected more than 75,000 statewide.
Deaths from the coronavirus continued to climb steeply in New York, topping 1,500 by Tuesday morning, according to Cuomo.
The city reported before dusk that it has nearly 1,100 deaths alone.
The New York City region has the lion’s share of the state’s confirmed cases.
A temporary hospital built inside a New York City convention center began accepting patients, and a nearby Navy hospital ship was expected to take in patients soon.
Beds at the Jacob Javits Convention Center and the USNS Comfort are designed to take pressure off New York City hospitals as coronavirus cases spike. The combined 2,000 beds were added to handle non-coronavirus patients.
Hospitals in the city were already showing signs of stress. Elmhurst Hospital in Queens was so busy that critically ill COVID-19 patients waited in the emergency room for beds to become available, according to an administrator.
