After much persistence, legislation authored by long-time healthcare advocate City Council Member Mathieu Eugene (D-Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, Prospect Lefferts Gardens) that better prepares New York for other COVID-19 related medical emergencies has passed.
The resolution calls for the State Department of Health (DOH) to create a Special Permanent Commission to address health emergencies, epidemics, pandemics, and outbreaks of infectious disease similar to COVID-19.
“A special permanent commission will help the city, state, and federal government improve its preparedness for similar medical emergencies and create a more efficient response to any future outbreaks of disease. As we have seen from the devastating economic and emotional impact that COVID-19 has had on our society, including the deaths of 23,507 residents of New York City, and over 151,000 deaths nationwide, it is clear that we must act now to protect the health of our city,” he said.
Eugene said the resolution was originally crafted following Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which damaged a significant part of southern Brooklyn neighborhoods including hospitals which suffered tremendously. The natural disaster prompted Eugene to visit some of the hospitals to see the conditions firsthand.
“The hospitals were overcrowded,” recalled Eugene, “They had to stand the patients. I went to visit one of the hospitals in the emergency rooms, and it was so crowded the doctors and nurses they couldn’t even go through. The beds were too close to each other. There were people sneezing, people touching, that is not a good health condition.”
Eugene introduced two pieces of legislation in 2018. The second resolution called on New York State Department of Health to create stand-alone, self-contained isolation centers for treatment of patients with infectious diseases.
This is a victory for Eugene, who has spent his entire tenure in government advocating for, and allocating funds and equipment to Brooklyn hospitals- including state-of-the-art ventilators to Kings County Hospital in 2017.
“As doctors, nurses, and immunologists study the pathology of COVID-19, we know that the novel coronavirus will remain a threat to public health for the foreseeable future and will continue to be disruptive to our daily routines. That is why we must take all necessary steps to protect ourselves against future and likely more severe occurrences of infectious disease,” he stated.
