Army Corps of Engineers races to provide 10,000 hospital rooms for coronavirus response
Sean D. Naylor National Security Correspondent Yahoo News•March 20, 2020
WASHINGTON — The Army Corps of Engineers is planning to create more than 10,000 ICU-type hospital rooms in hotels, dormitories and other available buildings in New York City over the next few weeks, its commander said Friday.
The corps is racing against the spread of the coronavirus to turn empty buildings in cities across the United States into high-quality COVID-19 treatment centers before the virus reaches its peak in each metropolis, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite told reporters. To achieve this, he said the corps had come up with “a standard design” to rapidly convert hotels and similar structures into medical facilities.
“We want to use New York as the standard setter,” Semonite said.
Displaying a pamphlet that he said contained the design, Semonite said the concept has already been presented to White House officials and approved by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“This is an unbelievably complicated problem, and there’s no way we’re going to be able to do this with a complicated solution,” Semonite said. “We need something super simple.”
He described a four-phase process: First, a state governor would have to nominate the facilities in a prioritized order and set up any required leases.
Next, the Corps of Engineers would step in, hire contractors “in an exceptionally short amount of days” and turn it into “an ICU-like facility,” he said.
Key to the modifications would be ensuring that each patient room has negative pressure, so that the virus cannot escape the room. Semonite said most rooms already have a device that allows them to do that, but if the room lacks such a device or the device isn’t working, one can be installed.
Third, the room has to be equipped with the appropriate medical supplies. FEMA and HHS have drawn up a list that would be standard for all rooms, according to Semonite. Nurse stations equipped with wireless technology would be located in the corridors, he said.
Finally, the facility would have to be staffed with medical professionals, a goal that Semonite said was for each state to accomplish.
He said that the concept could be applied to a convention center, but that such buildings weren’t ideal because they didn’t allow for quite the same level of care as hotels and dormitories.
Semonite said he had met earlier in the week with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was keen to get the process started. “We actually got turned on by the governor and got money from FEMA to go into buildings on Tuesday night,” Semonite said.
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