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OPINION

No, New York City Has Not Been Turned Into an Apocalyptic War Zone

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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Contrary to the narrative being advanced by the Mainstream Media and Democrats, the nation’s largest city has not been divided into competing districts like some sort of dystopian movie. 

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There is no disputing that the coronavirus has caused suffering and death across New York City. There's also no disputing that the virus has upended millions of lives and disrupted the city's economy.

But is the city in the throes of an apocalyptic nightmare as has been portrayed by Democrats and the Mainstream Media? Have hospitals really been turned into war zones?

Mayor Bill de Blasio predicted as many as 4 million citizens would contract the virus. In a panicked press conference he said people would die unless the federal government intervened.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo demanded thousands and thousands of ventilators and ordered the construction of temporary hospitals to care for the massive throngs of people who would be overwhelming the city's medical centers.

However, to date, there has been no concrete proof that has actually happened. I personally visited two hospitals in Brooklyn and did not seen any unusual traffic. Nor did I see hospitals that were overrun by patients seeking treatment. 

There have also been photographs circulating of nurses having to wear garbage bags as makeshift gowns. However, Mount Sinai hospital debunked those photos. 

In a statement to NBC News, Mount Sinai said the "troubling photo" shows the nurses in proper PPE underneath the garbage bags.

“The safety and protection of all Mount Sinai staff and patients is always – and will always be - our absolute top priority, but especially during the COVID-19 crisis. When it comes to staff wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), the facts are very different than recent media reports. To be clear: we always provide all our staff with the critically important PPE they need to safely do their job," the hospital said.

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The head of surgery at New York Presbyterian told NBC News New York that while the number of patients on ventilators has more than doubled, they still have the necessary resources to deal with the issue.

"While the medical center says it has not exhausted its supply of ventilators, if the current pace continues then it could become a real possibility," the television state reported. 

There have also been some photos of New York City emergency rooms filled with beds positioned in hallways. But that is typical for city hospitals on any given day. I know from first-hand experience.

So it's suspect that New York City leaders are not giving us any proven numbers about hospital capacity.

Consider this item from the New York Daily News:

"Details on how close to capacity hospitals are running have been scarce. The city has not released those numbers for its public hospitals and private hospitals have also kept them close," the newspaper reported. 

Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, raised that issue during Thursday's briefing.

"We were reassured, in meeting with our colleagues in New York, that there are still ICU beds remaining and there's still significant -- over 1,000 or 2,000 -- ventilators that have not been utilized yet," she said.

She also took the media to task for overhyping and mis-reporting news about the crisis.

"Please, for the reassurance of people around the world -- to wake up this morning and look at people talking about creating DNR situations -- do-not-resuscitate situations -- for patients, there is no situation in the United States right now that warrants that kind of discussion," she said.

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Birx was referencing a Washington Post story about medical personnel discussing "do not resuscitate" orders. 

"You can be thinking about it in a hospital -- certainly many hospitals talk about this on a daily basis -- but to say that to the American people, to make the implication that when they need a hospital bed, it's not going to be there, or when they need that ventilator, it's not going to be there -- we don't have evidence of that right now," she told reporters. "And it's our job collectively to assure the American people that -- it's our collective job to make sure that doesn't happen."

That does not mean the situation in New York City couldn't get worse. That’s a possibility. But at this very moment hospitals have not been turned into war zones and the apocalypse is not upon us. 

So let not your heart be troubled by the Mainstream Media or the Democrats, America. 

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