New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference alongside the National Guard at the Jacob Javits Center that will house a temporary hospital in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Monday, March 23, 2020, in New York. New York City hospitals are just 10 days from running out of "really basic supplies," Mayor Bill de Blasio said late Sunday. De Blasio has called upon the federal government to boost the city's quickly dwindling supply of protective equipment. The city also faces a potentially deadly dearth of ventilators to treat those infected by the coronavirus. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Andrew Cuomo
NEW YORK (77 WABC) —Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Javits Convention Center in New York City will turn into four federal emergency hospitals to accommodate 1,000 people with Covid-19. Each hospital will have the capacity to serve about 250 people.
The construction will begin this week and the hospitals will be up and running in about 7-10 days. “To free beds in the hospitals, we will be using these 1,000 emergency beds,” says Cuomo. The Javits Center will serve as a backfill for the hospitals.
Besides the 1,000 emergency beds, the Governor wants to make an additional 1,000 beds available for a lighter level of medical care. 2,000 beds could potentially fill up the showroom floor of The Javits Center.
Governor Cuomo says about 320 federal employees will be staffed to work in the four hospitals.
