NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island welcomed medical providers from the Army’s Joint Task Force-Civil Support who aim to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Svetlana Lipyanskaya, the hospital’s CEO, says Coney Island is a “few weeks behind” the rest of the city, which has been doing significantly better with the Omicron surge recently.

Dr. Mitchell Katz, the hospital system’s present and CEO, says the area’s demographics are to blame.

"This demographic is significantly older. There's a lot of people who have underlying congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” he said. “If they get COVID, it pushes them over the line, and they require hospitalization."

On Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office reported new cases are down over 50% compared to the previous seven days, along with a 25% decline in hospitalizations.

Katz announced earlier this month that federal help was on the way to six of the hardest hit states across the country. Health officials at the Coney Island hospital said they were happy to receive the military’s support.

"Doctors and nurses have been working without vacation, often on very long shifts,” said Lipyanskaya. "[The task force] will be covering for some staff who are going to get some much-needed and much-awaited time off."

The hospital says the federal support will be there for a minimum of 30 days. They could stay longer if necessary.

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