
In 2010, the health department began a program to document health disparities. The ongoing pandemic is the deadliest disaster by death toll in the city's history. NYC instituted emergency measures, including the deployment of the hospital ship USNS Comfort, and the creation of temporary field hospitals, although these were little used.

This created a scarcity of hospital beds and available intensive care unit space. By April, the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City had more confirmed coronavirus cases than China, the U.K., or Iran, and by May, had more cases than any other individual country. The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed in March 2020. Many health care systems in place in New York developed from nonprofit charitable organizations.

Main article: List of hospitals in New York City Government
