NEW YORK - With the city slated to begin phase one reopening Monday, hospitals are preparing to balance treatment of COVID-19 patients and a return to routine care.

What You Need To Know:

  • Hospitals across the city prepare to treat COVID patients and return to routine care.
  • Hospitals are required to have 30 percent of total beds available and 30 percent of ICU beds available.
  • Northwell Health and Saint Barnabas Hospital will test every patient admitted for COVID19.

The state’s test for reopening New York City measures, in part, is the region’s preparation for a potential spike in COVID cases. Hospitals must have at least 30 percent of their total beds available and 30 percent of their ICU beds available. That’s why hospitals in the Northwell Health system will continue to have surge patient capacity in place.

“It’s a new world and obviously as we do this all over, we will learn from it and we will do best practices,” said Dr. Mark Jarrett, chief quality officer for Northwell Health.

Patients will also be required to check their temperatures the morning of an appointment. And engineers are refitting some patients’ rooms with ventilation systems that will prevent airborne particles from escaping.

“And we’ve taken the step of testing every patient that’s admitted whether they have a COVID symptom or not so we are aware of a patient who may have come in who may have been asymptomatic,” Jarrett explained.

Saint Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx will also test all admitted patients for COVID so asymptomatic people can be identified and treated separately to contain spread of the virus.

Chief Medical Director Dr. Eric Appelbaum says a challenge for Saint Barnabas will be knowing exactly how much PPE to acquire. The state mandates a 90 day supply and the hospital must plan not just for the emergency room staff, but also new needs from outpatient care providers, like dentists.

“We are cautiously optimistic,” Appelbaum said. “We are keeping a very close eye on that,” he explained about the PPE supply.

With increased infection control measures in place, doctors say there is no reason to fear a trip to the hospital should the need arise.

“A month ago, if you said I had to go to any ER with a sprained ankle I would have been nervous,” explained Appelbaum. “Now I feel a lot better. I feel just as safe going to the ER as I do going to the supermarket.”