As financial strains continue due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Mohawk Valley Health System is taking steps to reduce costs.

Tuesday, the health system announced it would be furloughing roughly 20% of its workers.

"We have more than 4,000 employees, and this is a combination of full-time and part-time,” says MVHS President and CEO Darlene Stromstad.

The furlough includes employees in all parts of the organization, beginning this Wednesday and ending August 13.

"We are continuing paying for all of their benefits, so that stays intact and we also do pay our share of the unemployment insurance,” Stromstad said.

The move comes as MVHS is losing roughly $5 million weekly. It’s anticipated they could lose $31 million by the end of May.

MVHS says those losses are largely due to spending in anticipation of a potential surge in COVID-19 patients, a loss of over half of the system’s volume and the suspension of services.

"Certainly the loss of elective surgeries and elective procedures had a huge impact on us,” said Stromstad.

The furloughs are part of MVHS's Four Month COVID-19 Recovery Plan, which also includes suspension of on-site urgent care visits, salary reductions for leadership and a hiring freeze.

While furloughs are set to last four months, employees can be called back to work before then.

 "It is our primary goal that when the volumes return from this pandemic, when our patients start to return, then our employees will also return, because they're still active employees,” says Stromstad.

MVHS says the CWA and UFCW have agreed to terms of the furlough, while negotiations with the New York State Nurses Association will continue.

The recovery plan is an effort to financially recover from the losses incurred during the pandemic, with MVHS targeting a return to 80% of its volumes by the end of this summer.

MVHS says the number of full-time employees furloughed in each department was based on current volume in their respective areas and the health system as a whole.

The health system is also hoping for additional federal funds to provide additional financial relief. MVHS has received $9 million to date in federal assistance.