Javits Center's Conversion Into Coronavirus Hospital Begins

NEW YORK CITY — Construction to transform the Javits Center into four emergency hospitals will begin this week as the number of novel coronavirus cases continues to grow, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week.

It will take between seven and 10 days to construct four 250-person hospitals on the main showroom floor of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Eleventh Avenue in Hell's Kitchen, Cuomo said.

"This was never an anticipated use, but you do what you have to do," Cuomo said. "That's the New York way."

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Each hospital will claim about 40,000 square feet and the Javits Center might also host an additional 1,000 beds for lighter medical care, the governor said.

"This will be a backfill facility," Cuomo said. "To relieve pressure."

New York City saw an increase of 2,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases Sunday night, bringing the total to 12,305, and according to the Mayor's office, 99 city dwellers had died as of Sunday night.

SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Westbury and Westchester Convention Center are also being considered as temporary hospital sites.

To combat what Cuomo calls a "wave" threatening to overwhelm the heath care system, the governor ordered all New York hospitals to increase hospital capacity by at least 50 percent.

New York has 53,000 hospital beds, less than half the 110,000 beds Cuomo estimates the state will need to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, but the governor said he's more concerned about equipment than beds.

New York needs about 30,000 ventilators, machines that help people breathe, to treat the most vulnerable patients who require ICU treatment, Cuomo estimates.

"Most of all we need the equipment," said Cuomo. "That's where we're going to need the federal government to step in and step up."

Cuomo, a Democrat, criticized the Trump Administration for creating a medical supply bidding war by allowing corporations to sell directly to the states, noting the price of masks has risen from 85 cents to $7 amid the outbreak.

The New York governor pleaded with the administration to use the Defense Production Act to regulate the market.

"To have states competing with other states to find this equipment," said Cuomo. "It makes no sense."

Cuomo has also called into reserve a fleet of 1,000 retired health care professionals to stand in reserve during the outbreak and ordered hundreds of thousands of medical supplies sent to New York City.

"We're a family in New York," Cuomo said. "All systems are go here."

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