A team of Long-Island-based nurses from Northwell Health has been dispatched to two hospitals in western New York where COVID hospitalizations have surged. The 18-person team specializes in intensive care and emergency medicine.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the nurses will spend the next two weeks helping overburdened staff at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo and Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
"I want to thank Northwell Health for answering the call to action and partnering with us to send a team of extraordinarily skilled nurses that will boost hospital capacity and help us bring the numbers down in Western New York," Hochul said.
The skilled nursing team arrives in western New York as Hochul’s new mask mandate takes effect for businesses that don’t have a vaccine-required policy. She said the move will help combat a statewide increase in positive cases.
