A state lawmaker is discussing his plan to help make sure the New York has enough hospital beds to handle the coronavirus crisis.

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky sent a letter to the state Health Department suggesting a solution for getting to the target number of hospital beds Gov. Andrew Cuomo is looking for -- reopening Long Beach Medical Center, which has been shuttered since Superstorm Sandy.

"I think the state needs to think about buildings like this - every year we can't be scrambling looking for a temporary site," says Kaminsky.

Cuomo says the state needs 140,000 hospital beds, but has just 53,000 right now.There are two field hospitals set to open at Stony Brook University and SUNY Old Westbury. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said the Old Westbury site should be ready within two weeks.

When asked how likely it would be to reopen Long Beach Medical Center since its been closed since 2012 and is visibly in disrepair, Kaminsky admits it would require a lot of work. He says it would need a new HVAC system and new windows, but thinks in this environment, things need to be fast-tracked.

The state Health Department also gave a directive to nursing homes to readmit current residents and accept new residents how may be coronavirus positive, so long as they no longer require hospitalization.