NEW YORK: New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said that the count of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city is getting doubled every three days and contemplated that the peak of the deadly disease could arrive in two to three weeks.
This outruns any previous projections about the disease and puts more burden on the health system of the country, the New York Times reported.
Cuomo, in a press conference where he criticized the federal government's response as woefully insufficient, said, "We haven't flattened the curve. And the curve is actually increasing. The apex is higher than we thought, and the apex is sooner than we thought. That is a bad combination of facts."
Javits Center in Manhattan is a convention complex that the Army Corps of Engineers is turning into a 1,000-bed emergency hospital.
The state now projects a need of up to 140,000 hospital beds to house virus patients, up from the 110,000 projected a few days ago. As of now, only 53,000 are available.
Cuomo rebuked the federal government, which has so far sent 400 ventilators to New York City.
"You want a pat on the back for sending 400 ventilators," Mr. Cuomo said. "What are we going to do with 400 ventilators when we need 30,000 ventilators? You're missing the magnitude of the problem, and the problem is defined by the magnitude."