Danbury Hospital in Connecticut said Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont’s statement it is “already at capacity” is not true.
“We have capacity at Danbury Hospital to treat illness and injury including COVID-19,” said the statement from Nuvance Health, reported the Associated Press Tuesday.
Nuvance Health’s system includes Danbury Hospital, where the first Connecticut resident who tested positive for the coronavirus was treated.
Lamont told MSNBC Monday that 200 nurses in Connecticut are “on furlough” because they are unable to be tested for coronavirus.
“I can tell you, Danbury Hospital is already at capacity, and they have 200 nurses who are on furlough because they were in contact,” Lamont said. “If I could test those nurses, I could potentially get them back into the game a lot sooner.”
As Breitbart News reported, All In host Chris Hayes asked the governor, “Wait a second, you’ve got 200 nurses sitting on the sidelines right now who can’t get back to work because they can’t be tested to confirm whether or not they have the virus?”
“Exactly,” Lamont replied, adding:
We’ve got a surge in use, demand is going up, and I’m losing nurses by the day who have to furlough themselves for a period of time. That’s a priority for testing for me. Our testing capacity is going up, but it’s going up very incrementally, and that’s dangerous.
AP reported, however, Nuvance Health said in a statement testing is ongoing for those who meet the criteria for it.
“[T]he number of people furloughed is evolving as some early furloughs are now safely returning to work,” Nuvance added.