Here in New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, hospitals are seeing the same surge in cases that overwhelmed healthcare systems in China, Italy and Spain. Refrigerated trucks and tents have been stationed outside some hospitals to hold the bodies of the dead as morgues fill up.
In just 24 hours on Tuesday, 13 people reportedly died at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. New York City is reporting 366 deaths and over 33,000 confirmed cases — though the number is likely far higher due to a critical lack of tests. More than 4,000 coronavirus patients have been hospitalized in New York, where a leaked FEMA briefing shows all 1,800 intensive care beds in the city are expected to be full by Friday. We’ll have more on the healthcare crisis here in New York after headlines, when we’ll speak with Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.