Convention centers across the globe are answering the call for help during the spreading COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and are being repurposed as temporary hospitals.
Convention centers from London to Los Angeles are being outfitted with beds, medical equipment, testing kits, and some are even being used as shelters. Here is a look at a few and how they are answering the call for help.
Javits Convention Center
New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, working in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA and the National Guard, opened a 1,000-bed temporary medical station for those patients who do not have COVID-19 as a way to relieve the burden on local hospitals. In so doing, the nation’s busiest convention center has set an example for how other event facilities across the nation can support their local community amidst this global crisis and reduce the burden on overwhelmed healthcare systems.
Orange County Convention Center
A drive-thru coronavirus testing site has been set up at the Orange County Convention with 250 tests being administered a day.
Baltimore Convention Center
The Maryland National Guard has transformed 123,000 square feet of exhibit space inside of halls F and G into a medical station with 250 medical beds delivered by FEMA. This Federal Medical Station will operate under the direction of the University of Maryland Medical System and Johns Hopkins. The plan is this facility will serve to free up hospitals to care for the more serious and critical patients.
New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
A temporary hospital is being set up here in response to Louisiana’s spreading coronavirus. Plans are for 1,000 beds to be used as a Medical Monitoring Facility for patients recovering from the virus.
ExCeL Centre, London
A new hospital called NHS Nightingale has opened at ExCeL to provide support for thousands of patients with coronavirus. It will initially provide up to 500 beds equipped with ventilators and oxygen. The plan is to continually increase this capacity, potentially up to several thousand beds, should it be required.
San Diego Convention Center
The San Diego Convention Center and the city’s event facility, Golden Hall, is becoming a shelter for the homeless during the pandemic.
Los Angeles Convention Center
The California National Guard has created a field hospital inside the center that will house patients and help with the overflow at the area’s crowded hospitals.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center
This center, in downtown Dallas, will house a pop-up hospital to treat coronavirus patients. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, assisted by the Texas National Guard, is setting up 250 beds for now, and that number can grow to 1,400.
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