NY Coronavirus: 'Upstate Lives Matter' Campaign Started

NEW YORK — As New York continues leading the nation in cases of the new coronavirus, the campaign to re-elect U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik has started a petition called "Upstate Lives Matter" to oppose the state's plan to shift scarce equipment among New York's hospitals.

The opposition to helping out stressed out downstate shocked Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.

The "surge and flex" system, where all hospitals across the state would share resources, was announced April 3. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said up to 20 percent of equipment not being used at upstate hospitals could be temporarily shifted to places where the outbreak is the worst — which is currently in New York City, on Long Island, and in the lower Hudson Valley.

The plan was immediately met with outrage from many upstate officials.

"Taking our ventilators by force leaves our people without protection and our hospitals unable to save lives today or respond to a coming surge. We stand together opposing the Governor's very dangerous and reckless action. He is leaving our communities in a terrible position which will cost lives," said Stefanik (R-21st) and U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-23rd) plus a dozen members of the state Senate and Assembly in a joint statement Friday.

Cuomo said Sunday that the upstate contingency supply, 20 percent of the ventilators available, totaled 500. An executive order is forthcoming. But, he said, no upstate ventilators had been moved.

"I just want to know where they are if we need them," he said.

The state's public health professionals are shifting supplies, patients and workers every day as they plan for the surge now hitting downstate, he said. When coronavirus cases climb in western New York, resources will be shifted there, he said. "If I have to get in the truck and drive it from Montauk Point to Buffalo it'll be there."

The virus officially called COVID-19 will overwhelm the resources of any single community, Cuomo said. "Our ethos is we'll help one another," he said. "That was our mentality post 9/11 ... and that's how we'll be going forward."

Some residents aren't so sure.

"How and will (Putnam County) Hospital and Urgent Care be affected?" Southeast resident Ann Fanizzi wrote on Patch, urging local residents to sign the petition. "As PC approaches 300 testing positive and as the death toll rises, patients and medical personnel should not be bereft of urgent medical supplies i.e. ventilators, masks etc."

The petition can be found online here.

With more than 300,000 people tested in New York as of Sunday morning, 122,031 had tested positive. That includes 67,551 cases confirmed in New York City, 14,398 cases in Nassau County, 13,723 in Westchester; 12,405 in Suffolk; 5,326 in Rockland; 3,102 in Orange and 1,077 in Dutchess.

Erie is the only upstate county approaching 1,000 cases, according to state Health Department data as of Sunday morning. A cluster of cases was reported there at a rehab facility in Orchard Park.

At his Sunday afternoon news briefing, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said he thought Stefanik, Reed, Borrello and the others needed to clarify their position.

"I am certain that they do not mean that ventilators that are not being used now or in the immediate future should not be used to save lives on Long Island," he said. "That would be inhumane."

He said he would guarantee that when Suffolk County is over the peak, ventilators would be moved upstate if needed.

"I have family in upstate New York. I love upstate New York," he said. "In many ways our interests on Long Island align with interests in upstate New York ... but this is not about politics. This is about saving lives."

Coronavirus in New York and beyond

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Editor's Note: Southeast resident Ann Fanizzi urged Putnam County residents to sign the petition. Her name was misspelled in the original version of this report. Patch regrets the error.