Leading -- or Dictating?

According to WKTV last night: "MVHS MAY LOSE UP TO $31 MILLION AS CORONAVIRUS ATTACKS HOSPITAL REVENUES"

"The coronavirus could threaten the paychecks of the very frontline healthcare workers caring for the sick. Hospitals nationwide have had to furlough workers, in order to deal with a lack of elective surgeries, and subsequent loss of millions of dollars."

Why is there a lack of elective surgeries? On March 22, 2020, Governor Cuomo cancelled all elective surgeries in the state.

This financial mess is the Direct Result of the governor going way beyond his ken in determining that hospitals could not do "elective" surgeries.

What is "elective" vs "necessary" is both a matter of opinion and something that would change with the changing conditions/needs of a community. I don't think that a person with, e.g., a herniated disc would consider his operation "elective."

The decision of what procedures to allow should be left to the treating doctors and hospitals which are closest to the patients and what is happening in their communities. 

The president sent the hospital ship Comfort to NYC to assist the hospitals there to keep up with their non-Covid case load. However, because of the governor's edict, that ship sits empty, as are most hospitals across Upstate NY.

Empty hospital beds are a waste of resources. 

Simply put, the Covid-19 caseload is not here yet. Many of these "elective" patients will be in and out before that arrives.

The governor's actions have both prevented people from getting treatments that they need while imposing unacceptable and unnecessary financial burdens on hospitals and their staffs.

There is a difference between leading and dictating. This situation is the result of the latter.