Hundreds Of Central Brooklyn Coronavirus Patients On Ventilators

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Hundreds of Central Brooklyn residents remain hospitalized from the new coronavirus and testing shortfalls persist, the heads of three local hospitals recently reported.

But health leaders and elected officials during a virtual town hall Thursday also outlined community help and resources to help residents get through the pandemic.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assembly Member Diana C. Richardson, who both represent Crown Heights and other Central Brooklyn neighborhoods, co-hosted the meeting.

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The continued impact of coronavirus in Central Brooklyn was laid out in stark numbers by the leaders of Kings County Hospital, One Brooklyn Health System and SUNY Downstate University Hospital of Brooklyn.

Patients on ventilators, as of Thursday, counted as:

• 94 in Kings County Hospital
• 101 in One Brooklyn Health System
• 40 in Downstate University Hospital Brooklyn

Those numbers don't count all the hospitalized coronavirus patients either, said Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals, which runs Kings County Hospital.

Katz said Brooklyn accounted for 26 percent of coronavirus hospitalizations citywide. He said in Kings County Hospital there are 130 more patients receiving advanced medical care.

"So, people fighting for their lives, brave health care workers taking care of them," he said.

Wayne Riley, president of SUNY Downstate Medical Center, said the hospital has seen half of its cases and deaths hail from two zip codes — 11203 and 11226.

Riley voiced frustration over the lack of testing overall and particularly in black and brown communities. He said they're able to do 200 tests a day but could do five times that with a $500,000 machine.

The hospital has the money but a seller won't provide it, he said. Meanwhile, a private hospital in Manhattan has two of those machines, he said.

“It’s a hard disease to confirm with a lab test because the lab test has been a disaster," he said. "The lab scheme has been a disaster. The federal organization of lab testing has been a disaster."

LaRay Brown, president and CEO of One Brooklyn Health System, said about half of her hospitals' coronavirus patients are in intensive care.

"This is an insidious virus," she said.

Myrie, Richardson, the hospital officials and other health care workers spent the rest of the town hall answering questions from the community.

The video can be viewed in full here.

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