The field hospital erected at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan will now house 2,000 beds for coronavirus (COVID-19) patients.
The hospital initially was built to house 1,000 non-COVID-19 patients, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that he recently reached out to President Trump to ask for more space, which also will require more staff.
“It will be difficult to run that large of a facility, but if that works and it works well it changes the numbers dramatically,” Cuomo said at a press conference.
The temporary hospital was built by the Army Corps of Engineers and will be staffed and equipped by the federal government. So far, Cuomo said, the move will be the best way to relieve the hospital system in the New York City area.
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Neither of Staten Island’s private hospitals have shared details of how they will determine which patients will be moved offsite, but with more than 500 people now hospitalized on the borough for COVID-19 treatment, preparations for overflow capacity have continued to ramp up, including adding makeshift hospital beds around the borough.
Those options, though -- a 260-bed facility on the grounds of South Beach Psychiatric Center, a field hospital on the College of Staten Island campus, and converted hotel rooms -- are all still in the works, while the Javits Center facility and the USNS Comfort hospital ship are ready for patients.
“The criteria for these off-sites continues to change and develop,” said Richmond University Medical Center spokesman Alex Lutz. “As we find patients who meet the criteria we will work with our healthcare partners at these sites to facilitate the transfer of patients as needed.”
Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH), which is treating the vast bulk of hospitalized COVID-19 patients on Staten Island, did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Earlier in the week, SIUH spokesman Christian Preston said of transferring patients, "we’re exploring all options to deliver care.”
Varying expert opinions say the virus’ spread in New York could peak anywhere from four to 14 days, however, state officials are predicting about a week, Cuomo said.
Meanwhile, hospital discharges are increasing rapidly, as two thirds of the patients who have been treated also have been released.
On Friday, nearly 1,600 COVID-19 patients had been released from New York hospitals, compared to 632 discharges five days earlier.
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