Candidates for the 45th State Senate District have different takes on the role upstate New York’s ventilators should play in the response to COVID-19.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had announced plans Friday to send the National Guard to upstate hospitals in order to seize ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) not currently in use in order to redeploy them downstate, in areas with higher concentrations of COVID-19 cases.

Monday, the Hospital Association of New York State announced a plan created in coordination with the governor and regional hospitals that involves a voluntary effort to identify ventilators, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machines health care facilities could redeploy to high-need regions if necessary.

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Message the same

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In a statement posted to Facebook Sunday, Assemblyman Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, said the governor had listened to concerns he and others shared and backed off on plans to send the National Guard.

“He acknowledges that he has heard the concern from upstate and is changing his approach.

“As of right now, he isn’t taking ANY upstate ventilators, and that if he does need additional ventilators, he will be asking for them NOT taking them.”

Stec expressed love and care for downstate New Yorkers and said we are “indeed one state.”

He went on to urge caution.

“I sent the message to the governor that we appreciate him listening, and we want to keep an open line of communication.

“Let me be clear, my message is, and will still be, that we need ALL of our precious few ventilators to stay in our communities, especially due to our aged population base.”

Stec said he believed he was doing what he thought was best for the community.

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“Brother’s keeper”

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Clinton County Treasurer Kimberly Davis, a Democrat, told the Press-Republican that if she were a state senator, she would have first asked the governor more about his announcement.

“Does that mean all (ventilators)? Does it mean a percentage? Does it mean a percentage of those not in use?”

In a statement on Facebook, Davis said Stec had been using fear-mongering and saying that upstate should keep all its ventilators, regardless of the quantity or whether they were in use.

“So we should hold onto ours, just in case, and let someone die downstate? I do not agree.

“We shift extra resources when others suffer.”

Davis pointed out that the North Country has received assistance in the past, such as during the 1998 ice storm and following Hurricane Irene.

“We are our brother’s keeper. We have received help on numerous occasions when we have needed it from others across the state and from the state itself and that is what we are supposed to do.”