Currently, about 40% of patients who have been admitted to NYU Langone facilities who have COVID are “incidental.” That means the patients came in for another reason and happened to test positive for the virus, François said. He added that the hospital is setting aside dedicated rooms for those patients and taking other infection control measures.

The majority of patients coming in because of a severe case of COVID are unvaccinated, François said. He added that the patients who were vaccinated and have been hospitalized are typically elderly or have another medical condition such as renal disease or cancer.

François said NYU Langone constructed a special respiratory unit to employ in case COVID cases began to overwhelm the emergency department again, but it has so far gone unused.