The New York State Department of Health is testing a drug therapy method this week that may be used to treat patients with coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. 

The treatment aims to boost the immune response of an individual who is sick by injecting them with the antibodies of a person who previously contracted the virus, Cuomo said. 

“It’s only a trial, it’s a trial for people who are in serious condition,” Cuomo said. “We think it shows promise.”

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug therapy, the governor said. The state will also begin using a trial antimalarial and antibiotic drug combination to treat patients, he said. 

The novel coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has infected more than 370,000 people and killed over 16,000 globally. Cuomo on Monday confirmed 20,875 total cases of COVID-19 in the state, an increase of 5,707 from yesterday. 

The state will issue an executive order Monday mandating that all hospitals increase capacity by 50%, and strongly encouraging them to increase capacity by 100%, Cuomo said. The state needs to have 110,000 hospital beds available to house possible coronavirus patients, more than double its current amount, Cuomo said. 

The number of available intensive care units also needs to increase from 3,000 to at least 18,000, Cuomo said.

“I think it’s unreasonable to say to every hospital basically double your capacity,” Cuomo said. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say try.”

The governor also announced that he will issue an executive order for all registered nurses in New York to join the state’s effort to combat the virus. The state has also received 30,000 responses to its call for retired health care professionals and qualified medical students to help, he said. 

‘“The wave is still going up,” Cuomo said. “We have a lot of work to do to get that rate down and get the hospital capacity up.”

The construction of medical facilities at SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Westbury and the Westchester and Javits convention center should be completed in a week, Cuomo said. Each location will house about 250 people, he said, with more expansions to come. 

Cuomo continued to call on the federal government to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel factories to produce medical supplies. The act would allow New York to better equip health care professionals at the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, he said.

“Yes, it is an assertion of government power on private sector companies,” Cuomo said. “But so what? This is a national emergency.”

Published on March 23, 2020 at 5:08 pm

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu