Coronavirus: New York leads consortium of states in new plan to drive down cost of PPE

‘I don’t know that it’s a once in a lifetime. And I don’t know that it’s going to come and go,’ Governor Andrew Cuomo said of the pandemic on Sunday

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday a new partnership with six other northeastern states to procure stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE).

During the coronavirus crisis, states have been competing with each other to purchase PPE and driving up prices, Mr Cuomo said at his daily press briefing.

Mr Cuomo and other Democratic governors have been highly critical of the Trump administration's inability to procure PPE for states over the last two months.

The governors of New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania have now formed a coalition to purchase PPE as a bloc, which they are hoping will reduce prices by eliminating competition.

“The notion of coordinating together as a region makes enormous sense. So sign us up. Sign New Jersey up,” Garden State Governor Phil Murphy said via a video call-in to Mr Cuomo's briefing.

The New York governor also said today that he expects the coronavirus crisis is not likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime event and that government officials and hospitals ought to learn lessons from the experience for the next pandemic.

"We should be learning the lessons of what we just went through," Mr Cuomo said.

"People talk about this like it's going to come and go. ... 'once in a lifetime'. I don't know that it's a once in a lifetime. And I don't know that it's going to come and go," Mr Cuomo said, noting that epidemiologists and other health experts are warning of a second wave of Covid-19 that could be even more deadly than the first wave when the virus mutates.

Mr Cuomo partnered with the same six governors in mid-April to coordinate regional efforts to get people in the northeastern US back to work.

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New York is set to let some manufacturing and construction projects resume on 15 May as Mr Cuomo looks to gradually re-open the local economy — even though the pandemic is far from over.

Still, Mr Cuomo already appears to be turning his eye towards how to mitigate the damage of future pandemics.

New York, for instance, will now require all its hospitals to keep a 90-day stockpile of PPE based on how much was needed for the current crisis, Mr Cuomo announced on Sunday.

"Caution would suggest that as we go through this, we learn at the same time to make sure if we have to go through this again or if this is a prolonged situation, that we are learning from what we're implementing," he said.

The Democratic governor has also imposed a slate of economic relief measures, including an order that no one in the state can be evicted for non-payment of rent for the next two months.

"That is a law in place through June," Mr Cuomo said on Saturday.