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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering the immediate construction of four temporary field hospitals throughout the state.
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The hospitals, which would likely be constructed on closed college campuses and convention centers like Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, will be built to prepare for a projected increase in coronavirus cases.
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New York has the highest number of cases of the novel coronavirus in the US with 12,315 confirmed infected and 76 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday the state is considering a recommendation to build four field hospitals to care for COVID-19 patients as the state faces the largest amount of coronavirus cases in the United States.
Cuomo announced the field hospitals would be located at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, and Westchester County Center in White Plains, which have canceled public events, as well as the closed campuses of SUNY Stony Brook in Stony Brook and SUNY Old Westbury in Old Westbury. The facilities were selected by the Army Corps of Engineers, and state officials after a review of “more than a dozen” facilities across the state.
The state has request FEMA designate 250 beds for each field hospital, according to the press release. The governor said the Army Corps is expected to immediately begin construction of the hospitals.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the state of New York has 12,315 confirmed cases of COVID-19 that have so far resulted in 76 deaths.
“Every day we see the number of cases of novel coronavirus continue to rise, and we know that by all projections we’re going to have more hospitalizations than we can deal with in our healthcare system,” the New York governor said in a press release.
“This is a public health crisis, but worse than the virus is the fear, but we have a plan and we are doing everything we can to keep the people informed and save lives,” he added.
Cuomo previously announced other measures meant to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in his state. On Friday, Cuomo directed all of New York’s non-essential workforce to stay home.
“This is not life as usual. Accept it. Realize it. And deal with it,” he said asking the people of New York to “remain indoors to the greatest extent possible to protect physical and mental health. Your actions can affect my health; that’s where we are. We are all in quarantine.”
The office of the New York governor did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for more information about the hospitals, including what medical professionals would staff the temporary facilities.
According to the press release, New York has purchased two million N95 masks and is sending one million to New York City and 500,000 to Long Island. “Additionally, the state is gathering ventilators from different health facilities from across the state to be used in the most critical areas and has already purchased 6,000 additional ventilators,” the state said in a press release said.
Officials in Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus is believed to have originated, panic built two temporary hospitals in the city in a matter of weeks to deal with a surge in COVID-19 cases. Both hospitals have since closed as the city deals with no known new cases of the new coronavirus.
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