Carlina Rivera, chair of the City Council’s hospitals committee, convened public officials, hospital groups and community advocates Wednesday as part of a hearing focused on how the industry is preparing as more New Yorkers return to work.
She cited patient survey data indicating Americans postponed cancer and heart care and children delayed receiving vaccines during the pandemic.
“How are we as a city ensuring that people are safely returning to care and how are we addressing the potential setbacks New Yorkers will experience after delaying care for months?” Rivera asked in her opening statement.
City officials and health care providers are now working to communicate to residents that patients don’t need to defer in-person care, as some were asked to do earlier this year to free up capacity.
Many New Yorkers are wondering if it is safe to get care in their local hospital. The answer is yes – hospitals and doctors are ready to take care of patients.
“We understand that many New Yorkers are wondering if it is safe to get care in their local hospital,” Zeynep Sumer King, vice president of regulatory and professional affairs at the Greater New York Hospital Association, said in written testimony. “The answer is yes—hospitals and doctors are ready to take care of you, with the strongest safety measures to protect you from contracting the virus.”
Sumer King noted that 594 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 in the city, compared with 12,184 on April 12.
Local hospitals continue to follow strict infection-control rules, including requirements to screen patients, visitors and staff and to separate Covid-19 patients from others, including in emergency rooms.
The hospital association is holding monthly emergency preparedness meetings to conduct planning for a potential future wave and are advising patients to receive flu vaccinations as early as possible this year.
