The head of the Army Corps of Engineers revealed his plan to build 341 coronavirus field hospitals across the US to battle the pandemic on Tuesday, and one will be the US Open Arena in New York City.
Lt. General Todd Semonite appeared on Good Morning America to reveal his plan and explain how the army goes about selecting appropriate sites.
Already, temporary hospitals have been set up in the Javits Center and Central Park in Manhattan.
On Monday, Queens Stadium which hosts the US Open every year announced it was turning its various facilities into a hospital and commissary where meals will be prepared for the city’s healthcare workers.
Lt. Gen. Semonite said on Monday that the Corps was prepared for the challenge and eager to get to work building the sites.
Already, seven are being constructed around the country and there will be another five contracts completed by the end of the day.
Four are in New York, including the Javits Center. The others are the Westchester Civic Center, SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Westbury.
Three are underway in Illinois; the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago and two disused hospitals, Metro South Medical and Sherman Hospital.
Lt. General Todd Semonite appeared on Good Morning America to reveal his plan and explain how the army goes about selecting appropriate sites
‘The scope is immense,’ he said in a Skype interview with George Stephanopoulos, who was broadcasting from his home because his wife is exhibiting some symptoms of the virus.
‘There are three different aspects; there’s a shortage of sites and facilities, a shortage of supplies and there’s a potential shortage of staff.
‘We’re looking right now at 341 different facilities across all of the US [that will be] similar to the Javits Center.
‘There are eight contracts under gear right now which provide probably around 8,500 beds.
‘By the end of the day we should have another five contracts. We don’t know where this is going to go.
‘What the corps wanted to do was come up with an option… a solution that the states could employ,’ he said.
He explained the strategy for selecting which sites will be used, saying they go first for buildings that are already functioning with water, heat and electricity then look at ‘wide open spaces’ like Central Park which is more of a challenge.
‘Think about establishing something on green grass. It’s awful hard. You have to bring in water, electricity… when we got to New York we had to find a solution.
‘Our first thought was, “make it extremely simple.” Find an existing facility that has heat, water, electricity, IT, parking lots and put whatever we can in there. ‘
‘There are two big types of thoughts; hotels and dormitories. We’re doing a lot of those and the other is large, big open spaces,’ he said.
It took a team of Army Engineers and National Guard troops five days to put 2,900 beds in the Javits Center. They finished ahead of schedule and are now looking at their next project.
One other element of the operation is deciding which facilities will house COVID-19 patients and which won’t.
The Javits Center will take patients who do not have the virus, as will the USNS Comfort, which docked in NY Harbor on Monday.
Lt. Gen. Semonite said the sites that will take on coronavirus patients will be ‘more complicated’.
The Queens Stadium said it would for now welcome non-coronavirus patients but that it was open to taking in COVID-19 positive cases if needed.
It will be spread across the campus. In an indoor training center, 350 hospital beds will be put up.
One of the field hospitals in Central Park, New York City. Lt. Gen. Semonite said the Corps first tries to find places that already have heat, water and electricity, then looks at outdoor open spaces
The field hospital in Central Park is barricaded on one of the park’s famous lawns
It took the Army Corps just five days to put 2,900 hospital beds in the Javits Center (shown)
The Lt. General said there were eight other sites currently being constructed – he did not specify where they were
Footage of army personnel distributing supplies to make another makeshift hospital in an undisclosed location
The sprawling outdoor Louis Armstrong Stadium will be turned into a commissary that will be used to pump out meals for thousands of healthcare workers or others who need them.
Chris Widmaier, a spokesman for the tennis center, told The Wall Street Journal: ‘We’re there to do whatever the city and state needs.’
In New York City, The Plaza hotel and St Regis Hotel will become hospitals for non-critical patients.
It is unclear if they will house patients with coronavirus or others.
The plan is to reduce the capacity in the city’s hospital network to free up as many beds as possible for the people with the virus who will need care.
Already, they are overrun with patients and the body count is piling up.
In New York City, more than 900 people have died from the virus and the peak is not predicted for another two weeks yet.
It is then expected to tail off, but the virus is due to rear its head in other states.
The University of Washington Medical School released analysis on Monday which suggested the pandemic will last throughout the country in some way for the next four months and that some states will not see their peaks until August.
Its data predicts that 82,000 will die by the time it is over. The White House paints an even bleaker picture and says that between 100,000 and 200,000 will lose their lives.
Queens Stadium, where the US Open is held, will turn into a field hospital and commissary
The outdoor Louis Armstrong Stadium will be used as a commissary where thousands of meals will be pumped out for hospital staff