De Blasio sounds alarm as fight against coronavirus hits critical stage

Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Friday that the Big Apple needs fight against coronavirus in the coming days and weeks ahead.

“This Friday afternoon we are beginning a race against time as we prepare for next week,” the mayor said during a press briefing on COVID-19.

“If we’re gonna save every life we can save, we need the supplies, the equipment, the PPE,” he said. “We need more than ever the personnel, the people, the doctors, the nurses that will help us through this fight. We need the beds.”

De Blasio said this Sunday will be “an absolutely essential day as we prepare for a very difficult week ahead.”

In order to get through the month of April and May “to save every life that can be saved,” the mayor said, the city will need an additional 15,000 ventilators.

“Right now we’re struggling to have enough for next week,” de Blasio said, adding that next week the city will need a minimum of 2,500 to 3,000 new ventilators.

“The ventilators to me are one of the clearest examples of life and death,” he said.

Additionally, the mayor said, the city will need 45,000 new medical personnel and 65,000 more hospital beds than the current 20,000.

“What our healthcare workers are through sure looks like a war to me,” the mayor said.

The federal government’s stockpile of a roughly 10,000 ventilators “is the single most important source,” according to de Blasio.

“We are about to hit a surge in the coming days,” de Blasio said, adding that the federal stockpile of ventilators “should go where the need is.”

New York State has roughly 2,000 ventilators in its stockpile, he said.

“We don’t have enough ventilators we need for next week,” said de Blasio, who claimed the city does have enough personal protective equipment to get through next week.

De Blasio called on President Trump “to create an enlistment effort for our medical personnel across the country” in the battle against coronavirus.

The mayor also touted Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy for issuing executive orders ordering private institutions to release crucial medical supplies like ventilators and PPE.

“This is exactly the kind of thing we need,” he said, adding, “This is a wartime dynamic.”

“People’s lives are at stake there is no reason in world to hold back that equipment. I commend both states for taking action,” de Blasio said.

The mayor said he is authorizing NYPD, FDNY and the Sheriff’s Office “to immediately support the efforts to acquire these supplies from these private sources.”