USTC Makeshift Hospital Beds (Photo: US Open)
May 15, 2020 By Allie Griffin
The city is closing down the field hospital at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
The field hospital, which opened April 10, was established to help ease the overcrowding at Elmhurst Hospital as a time when the number of COVID-19 cases were near their peak.
The facility treated 79 patients in total, and the final patient left the temporary hospital on Saturday.
The city used 100,000 square feet of space for the make-shift hospital–which included 20 intensive care units (ICU) beds.The facility was never fully utilized.
Officials planned to re-purpose the facility to quarantine those who tested positive and had no where to self isolate. The city, however, said that it has enough hotel capacity to handle expected isolation cases.
The facility is being returned to the U.S. Tennis Association. Decommissioning is expected to take a few weeks.
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6 Comments
@Lana. I Agree that there Should be more Food for Hungry New Yorkers. Thousands have lost their Jobs who don’t Qualify for unemployment insurance.
And most will Not get the $1,200. Stimulus money!
This Pandemic has brought Out the Best Qualities in some People, But unfortunately also the Worst in others!
For those who are Selfish, Uncaring & Indifferent to the Plight of other Human beings, will Face the Ultimately Price in our Society!
“What goes Around Come Around”…
@Lana: those food lines are unfortunately from the soft martial law. These lock downs hurt the poor the most. If you had a job that out food on the table, isn’t that just as essential? All jobs are essential. #Liber8NYSate
The president encouraged millions of Americans to break quarantine and hold large gatherings, during a pandemic killing tens of thousands of Americans.
So you should do it!
Clearly, the health care system was not overrun as predicted and all these facilities were not needed. Coronavirus apparently isn’t the apocalyptic scenario we were led to believe.
A bad day for Debbie Downer.
Lana- All part of that Republican low wage agenda.
Can they sell some of the hospital equipment and feed us. So many people in in need of food in Queens. People are showing up at food banks before sunrise to wait in line for a bag of rice and can of beans.