DC convention center has not treated a single coronavirus patient after preparing for worst-case scenario
Central Park field hospital to stop accepting new COVID-19 patients
New York City's Central Park field hospital has treated 191 people and will continue to treat current patients for the next two weeks; David Lee Miller reports.
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The makeshift field hospital that the Army Corps of Engineers set up at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., to treat coronavirus patients has not seen a single one, officials told Fox News.
The facility, which contains 437 beds, opened May 11.
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"Our goal is to never have to use the convention center," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said last month, before the field hospital opened. She noted that, in a "worst-case scenario," it would be available to treat as many as 500 patients.
Last month, it was announced that a field hospital that nearly 300 soldiers set up at Seattle's CenturyLink Field Event Center would be dismantled before treating any patients and sent to a harder-hit state. That hospital had been meant for patients who did not have COVID-19, allowing regular hospitals to treat COVID-19 cases.
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“These soldiers uprooted their lives to help Washingtonians when we needed them most,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in April. “Since then, it’s become apparent that other states need them more than we do. It’s only right that we release this capability, so those states have the tools necessary to help end this nationwide fight that we are all battling together.”
Similarly, a field hospital in Cape Cod did not see any patients and eventually closed down.
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In New York City, the military set up what had been hailed as one of the largest hospitals in the country at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. The facility boasted 2,500 beds and was originally meant for non-coronavirus patients, but was later switched to treat people with COVID-19.
That hospital closed May 1 after treating just over 1,000 patients total.