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.
