Sports have ground to a halt in Seattle as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the world. Cities across the country are in need of extra hospital beds and are coming up with creative measures to treat patients in need.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee have called upon the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA to construct a military field hospital at CenturyLink Field Event Center.
According to Durkan’s press release, 300 soldiers from the 627th Army Hospital from Fort Carson, Colorado, have been deployed to Seattle to run the hospital, which will provide at least 150 hospital beds for non-COVID-19 patients.
“As we continue to do everything possible to slow the spread of COVID-19 throughout Washington state, we also need to prepare our healthcare delivery system to deal with people who are sick, or may become ill, as well as all the other health needs of Washingtonians,” Inslee said in the release. “This field hospital will help us do that and I am grateful to the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, and FEMA for bringing in these much-needed resources of people, supplies and equipment. I appreciate Mayor Durkan’s leadership in helping to bring this to the Puget Sound region. Together, we will stop the spread of this virus and help save lives.”
With all games and concerts canceled for the near future, large, empty venues like the CenturyLink Field Event Center offer a suitable place to create the extra hospital beds the city could need in the near future.
