An emergency makeshift hospital erected in Central Park to treat COVID-19 patients is to close, officials announced Saturday, as coronavirus cases continue to decline in New York.
The 14-tent hospital, equipped with ventilators, was built on the Upper East Side of the park at the end of March by Samaritan’s Purse, and set up with the purpose of helping to relieve the overflow of COVID-19 patients from Mount Sinai’s hospitals.
Samaritan’s Purse said the temporary hospital had treated 315 patients for COVID-19. But now with the worst of the coronavirus pandemic having seemingly passed, the US-based Christian global relief agency said it would stop admitting new patients from Monday.
It will take approximately two weeks to treat the final patients and take down and decontaminate the tents, a spokesperson for the charity said. Just eight patients remained at the field hospital as of Friday.
An emergency makeshift hospital erected in Central Park to treat COVID-19 patients is to close, officials announced Saturday, as coronavirus cases continue to decline in New York
An emergency makeshift hospital erected in Central Park to treat COVID-19 patients is to close, officials announced Saturday, as coronavirus cases continue to decline in New York.
‘This marks a significant turning point in the coronavirus outbreak in New York because it means the case numbers are declining to the point that the local healthcare system will be able to meet the needs,’ the spokesperson continued.
State Senator Brad Hoylman told NBC New York approximately 40 Samaritan’s Purse staffers will stay within the Mount Sinai system and will be redeployed to Beth Israel Hospital.
The field hospital proved controversial, with LGBT groups pointing out that staff and volunteers are required to sign a ‘statement of faith’ stressing that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
‘I was told by Mount Sinai yesterday that Samaritan’s Purse will be relocating from Central Park to a floor of Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital on 17th Street in my senate district,’ Hoylman told NBC.
‘I expressed opposition to the hospital’s continued relationship with the homophobic [Samartian’s Purse founder] Franklin Graham I have a question why they continue to support one another. I’m afraid the consequences of this poisonous relationship will linger.’
Samaritan’s Purse and Mount Sinai have not yet responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
Saturday’s announcement comes after the US military hospital ship USNS Comfort sailed out of New York and back to Virginia on Thursday.
Samaritan’s Purse said the temporary hospital had treated 315 patients for COVID-19. But now with the worst of the coronavirus pandemic having seemingly passed, the US-based Christian global relief agency said it would stop admitting new patients from Monday
It will take approximately two weeks to treat the final patients and take down and decontaminate the tents, a spokesperson for the charity said
The field hospital proved controversial, with LGBT groups pointing out that staff and volunteers are required to sign a ‘statement of faith’ stressing that marriage can only be between a man and a woman
The USNS Comfort departed from Manhattan’s Pier 90 on Thursday. It is making a return trip to its home base in Norfolk, Virginia
The hospital ship USNS Comfort passes the Statue of Liberty as its departs New York City. 182 people were treated while the ship was docked in NYC
The navy vessel and Central Park hospital were part of a massive operation to double the number of hospital beds in New York state to 110,000.
But hospital admissions came in much lower than the worst-case projections because of the city’s weeks-long shutdown, Governor Andrew Cuomo has said.
The 1,000-bed ship treated just 182 patients while in New York. All have since been discharged to their homes or to a nearby hospital, Navy Spokesperson Mary Cate Walsh said.
According to Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman, once the Comfort has returned to base in Norfolk, it will restock and be cleaned before possibly departing on another venture.
Hoffman added that the departure ‘is a sure sign of modest progress in mitigating the virus in the nation’s hardest hit city and is a welcome sign.’
The temporary US Army hospital set up inside the Javits Convention Center – the home of the US Open – also announced its closure Friday, after treating more than 1,100 patients.
‘Planning is ongoing for the drawdown of federal resources that are no longer needed due to the flattening of the curve,’ a FEMA spokesperson wrote in a statement. ‘The remaining patients at the Jacob Javits Center are expected to be discharged or transferred today.’
Vital medical equipment and other supplies at the Javits Center will remain in place in case there’s a second wave of COVID-19 when lockdown orders ease. Meanwhile, military staffers are scheduled to leave Manhattan starting next week.
The last few dozen patients who were treated at the temporary hospital at the Javits Center are scheduled to be released by the end of day
While the makeshift hospital is expected to close, the facility and three other military-run field hospitals in the area will not be entirely taken apart
As of Sunday afternoon, New York had 316,415 confirmed cases of coronavirus state-wide and 19,189 recorded deaths, an increase of 280 from the day previous Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. More than 700 New Yorkers were dying daily at the peak of the outbreak last month.
The total death toll does not include 5,200 additional victims in New York City whose deaths were blamed on the virus on death certificates, but whose infections haven’t been confirmed by a lab test.
Cuomo also said that new cases and intubations continue to fall, though remarked hospital admission number are still ‘disturbingly high’.
Cuomo is expected to this week extend a stay-at-home past May 15 for the state’s badly affected areas.
