The battle against COVID-19 is now even more personal for Vassar Brothers Medical Center's Dr. William Begg.

Begg lost his dad to the coronavirus this past week.

Begg’s hospital is working to save lives from COVID-19 with an improved strategy.

"Not only with treatment strategy, but with capacity. Our beds and our staffing,” says Begg. “There’s been a slower uprise in overall number of patients, so that gives us time. And also, the patients that require ICU support is statistically a little bit lower.”

Capacity is a key word for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who says the key to avoiding another shutdown is keeping cases and hospitalizations down.

"We've spent a lot of time working with hospitals, their capacity, their communication, their ability to deal with a surge,” Cuomo has said.

So far, no hospitals have told the state that they anticipate hitting the 85% capacity in three weeks - which would trigger a shutdown.

Begg adds that as doctors continue to battle on the front lines of the pandemic, we should all keep doing what we can to slow the spread.