New York’s hospitals and nursing homes will be required to continue maintaining a 60-day emergency stockpile of personal protective equipment despite authorities declaring the COVID-19 emergency over.
“These regulations are specifically meant to address the lessons learned in New York State from 2020 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to PPE,” the state Health Department said in its draft emergency rule.
Medical facilities must be prepared for any future outbreak of a COVID-19 variant or any other communicable disease, officials said.
“Notwithstanding the end of the State disaster emergencies relating to COVID-19, infections in nursing homes across the state persist and hospitals remain at the front lines of response,” the department says.
“Further, a possible resurgence of COVID-19 or another communicable disease outbreak, and possible interruptions to the PPE supply chain again as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitates that hospitals and nursing homes continue to have an adequate supply of PPE to protect these vulnerable populations and the staff who provide care.”
They added that the regulations were needed “on an emergency basis to ensure that hospitals and nursing homes Statewide do not again find themselves in need of PPE.”
“It is critically important that PPE, including masks, gloves, respirators, face shields and gowns, is readily available and used when needed, as hospital and nursing home staff must don all required PPE to safely provide care for patients and residents with communicable diseases, while ensuring that they
themselves do not become infected with a communicable disease,” the department said.
The Post exposed the lack of PPE at hospitals during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, featuring nurses wearing trash bags over their gowns for protection and to protest a supply shortage of protective gear while treating sick and contagious COVID-19 patients.
More than 80,000 New Yorkers and over 1.1 million Americans died from COVID-19, according to state and federal data.