LI hospitals in a hurry: Temp facilities expected in 2-3 weeks

State officials said Monday that construction of temporary hospitals at college campuses in Stony Brook and Old Westbury will begin in a matter of days, with the goal of having them operational and ready to receive at least 500 patients apiece in just two to three weeks.

The makeshift hospitals would be equipped to deal not only with coronavirus sufferers, but also other typical patients who could be crowded out of regular hospitals. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is moving to hire contractors now.

 "Teams are there on site now. The Army Corps will be procuring supplies. We'll be seeing contractors (on site) in the next few days or the beginning of next week,"  said a Cuomo administration official, who asked not to be identified because plans haven't been finalized. "They will be retrofitting field houses. They will be erecting tents outside."

Asked when the facilities would be expected to open, the official said: "I think we're talking two weeks, three weeks."

The Long Island facilities will be established on the campuses of Stony Brook University and the State University of New York at Old Westbury. Each is expected to house 500 to 1,000 patients.   

The speedy buildup is latest example of how New York -- the state with the most coronavirus cases in the nation -- is reacting to the pandemic spread and working to soften the impact on an already overwhelmed health care system.

The Long Island facilities are two of the four temporary sites the Trump administration has approved for New York to deal with the pandemic. Others will be at the Jacob J. Javits Convention Center and the Westchester Convention Center. The locations were selected based on current — and expected — hot spots for the virus. New York now has more than 15,000 cases, by far the most of any state. 

The temporary hospitals will be run by existing hospital operators so that patients and families will recognize a "trusted operator they've been going to for years," the Cuomo official said.

State officials are in the process of choosing the operators, who are expected to tap into a pool of some 30,000 medical and mental-health professionals who have signed up to help the state since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo asked for volunteers.

About 4,000 Long Islanders have signed up, officials said.

The state's plan is that coronavirus patients in need of acute care will go to existing hospitals. The temporary hospitals "will absorb those with less acute symptoms," the official said. They also might handle patients who have to go to a hospital for non-virus reasons but can't get into existing facilities because of expected overflow.

"Some of the beds will be for people who are there a couple of weeks, some for a night," the official said.

Besides using field houses, contractors will be building hospital tents at adjacent athletic fields. 

 "These will not look like hurricane shelters. These are hospitals," the Cuomo official said. "You'll have individual rooms, with 1-2 beds each — not rows of cots."

The large-scale tents will be climate-controlled.

"We told the Army Corps we wanted the most amount of beds in the shortest time and in a way that's sanitary, and this is what they recommended," the official said. 

Health care staff will reside at college dorms, which are sitting largely empty since universities switched to online classes for the rest of the semester.

The cavernous Javits Center is expected to handle at least 1,000 patients.

The governor has been pushing the Trump administration to quickly retrofit facilities to handle what's expected to be a deluge of patients.

The administration also is trying to increase the number of beds statewide from about 50,000 to at least 75,000, the governor said, after announcing hospitals are required to cancel or postpone all noncritical elective surgeries and asking them to find ways to double capacity.

Michael Kinane, a spokesman for SUNY Old Westbury, said the university does not yet have details about the size, scope and specific location of the makeshift hospital.

“SUNY Old Westbury fully supports the governor’s efforts to increase hospital capacity and will make available those facilities needed to help flatten the COVID-19 curve,” Kinane said. 
Stony Brook Interim President Michael Bernstein, in a Facebook video message, said: "To the extent our medical facilities get outstripped in terms of capacity, the campus is well-poised to provide space and opportunity for additional capacity whether it’s to treat patients or to house people, including staff who might need it.” 

Stony Brook University Hospital has 624 beds, but hospital officials said the goal is to double its capacity.