Every year, Chuck commits to traveling to all62 counties in New York to meet with constituents.
On December 10, 2022 standing in Lewis County as Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) and other respiratory illnesses surge in children across the North Country, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer launched a major new push to increase federal support for Upstate hospitals strained by the dramatic increase in RSV cases. Flanked by frontline doctors, Schumer explained that this is the busiest RSV and flu season that Upstate hospitals like Lewis County General Hospital and the St. Lawrence Health System has ever seen, with nearly 300 RSV cases just last month alone in St. Lawrence’s hospitals and nearly 80% of the patients this season being children, Lewis County is averaging 70 cases a month contributing to an overwhelmed regionally health system. Schumer said the spiking levels of RSV with growing flu rates warrants immediately federal action, and called for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be ready to act at a moment’s notice to provide whatever support upstate hospitals need. Schumer reported that the federal government has unique authority to help, with the power to support temporary structures, surge staffing if there are not enough pediatricians available, moving patients across states lines, credentialing out of state providers, enhancing the use of telehealth, coordinating medical supply chains and more.