Governor Announces Elective Treatment Can Resume In Eligible Counties & Senate Votes on $75 Billion In Funding

AMID ONGOING COVID-19 PANDEMIC, GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES ELECTIVE OUTPATIENT TREATMENT CAN RESUME IN COUNTIES AND HOSPITALS WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT RISK OF COVID-19 SURGE STARTING NEXT WEEK

Announces State Will Take a Regional Approach to Reopening
Governor Will Meet With President Trump at the White House Today to Discuss Testing

Confirms 4,178 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 251,690; New Cases in 41 Counties

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced elective outpatient treatments can resume in counties and hospitals without significant risk of COVID-19 surge in the near term. Hospitals will be able to resume performing elective outpatient treatments on April 28, 2020 if the hospital capacity is over 25 percent for the county and if there have been fewer than 10 new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the county over the past 10 days. If a hospital is located in a county eligible to resume elective outpatient treatments, but that hospital has a capacity under 25 percent or has had more than 10 new hospitalizations in the past 10 days, that hospital is not eligible to resume elective surgeries. If a county or hospital that has resumed elective surgery experiences a decrease in hospital capacity below the 25 percent threshold or an increase of 10 or more new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients, elective surgeries must cease. Further, patients must test negative for COVID-19 prior to any elective outpatient treatment. The State Department of Health will issue guidance on resuming elective surgeries.

Restrictions on elective surgery will remain in place in Bronx, Queens, Rockland, Nassau, Clinton, Yates, Westchester, Albany, Richmond, Schuyler, Kings, Suffolk, New York, Dutchess, Sullivan, Ulster, Erie, Orange and Rensselaer Counties as the state continues to monitor the rate of new COVID-19 infections in the region.  

Governor Cuomo also announced the state will take a regional approach to reopening and will make decisions on which counties and regions to open and when to open them based on the facts and data specific to that area. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will coordinate Western New York's public health and reopening strategy, and former Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will volunteer as a special advisor to coordinate the Finger Lakes' public health and reopening strategy.

The Governor also announced he will be meeting with President Trump at the White House today to discuss testing.

"As New York continues to flatten the curve of new COVID-19 infections, we are now ready to lift the restrictions on elective surgeries in regions where hospital capacity and the rate of new infections do not present a significant risk of a surge in new positive cases," Governor Cuomo said. "It is essential that we continue to support hospitals and health care workers in all regions to ensure they have both capacity and supplies to treat COVID patients because this virus is by no means defeated."

Finally, the Governor confirmed 4,178 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 251,690 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 251,690 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

SENATE VOTE ON COVID-19 BILL

Senate leaders and the White House have struck a deal on a $484 billion COVID-19 emergency supplemental package, which provides $75 billion in funding for hospitals and other healthcare providers, $25 billion for COVID-19 testing and $310 billion in additional Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. The Senate will vote on the package later today. House lawmakers are expected to return to the Capitol on Thursday to vote on the legislation.
Here are the details of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act:

• $75 billion for hospitals and healthcare providers
  • These funds add to the $100 billion in grants to hospitals, public entities, not-for profit entities, and Medicare and Medicaid enrolled suppliers and institutional providers allocated in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This extension of the CARES Act funding will cover unreimbursed healthcare related expenses or lost revenues attributable to the public health emergency resulting from the coronavirus. See Premier’s summary of COVID-19 funding opportunities for providers here.

• $25 billion for COVID-19 testing
  • $11 billion will be distributed to states, localities and tribes as follows:
    • $2 billion to all states under the Public health emergency preparedness grant program (PHEP)
    • $4.25 billion to “surge areas” relative to number of COVID-19 patients in those areas
    • $750 million to tribal organizations, and urban Indian health organizations in coordination with Indian Health Service
    • The remaining funds will be distributed at the discretion of the Secretary of HHS
  • $1 billion will go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory capacity expansion, contact tracing, public health data surveillance and analytics infrastructure modernization.
  • $1.8 billion is allocated to the three institutions in the National Institutes of Health to develop, validate, improve, and implement testing and associated technologies; to accelerate research, development, and implementation of point-of-care and other rapid testing; and for partnerships with governmental and non-governmental entities to research, develop, and implement the activities.
  • $1 billion for the Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority (BARDA), prioritizing platform-based technologies with U.S-based manufacturing to produce rapid response testing
  • $22 million for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support activities associated with diagnostic, serological, antigen, and other tests, and related administrative activities
  • $825 million for community health centers and rural health clinics
  • Up to $1 billion to cover cost of testing for the uninsured

• Includes $6 million for HHS Office of Inspector General for oversight activities.

• Requires plan from States, localities, territories, and tribes on how resources will be used for testing and easing COVID-19 community mitigation policies.

• Requires strategic plan related to providing assistance to States for testing and increasing testing capacity.

• $310 billion for SBA programs, including:
  • $250 billion in unrestricted funds for the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
  • $60 billion for PPP for small lenders and community banks
    • $30 billion for assets less than $10 billion
    • $30 billion for assets between $10 billion and $50

• The bill also provides an additional:
  • $50 billion for the Disaster Loans Program Account
  • $10 billion for Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance (EIDL) loans
  • $2.1 billion for SBA administrative expenses

Democrats’ efforts to attach $150 billion for the Coronavirus Relief Fund for state and local governments will be an ongoing issue for the next round of legislative relief. President Trump signaled on Sunday that the funding for states and local governments that the nation’s governors are seeking will likely be part of the negotiations for the next package.

• Legislative text of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act
• Bill summary
• Summary of SBA loan provisions