Governor Andrew Cuomo Announces Temporary Hospital at Javits Center will Now Treat COVID-19 Patients

Having opened earlier this week on March 30, 2020, the transformed Javits Center, located on the west side of Manhattan at 34th Street, was opened. The Army Corps of Engineers alongside the National Guard had transformed this locale into a temporary hospital which was to serve as a backup (much like the USNS Comfort Floating Hospital) to the NYC Health Care System. It was to treat non COVID-19 patients with its 2,500 bed capacity as other hospitals focused on dealing with the Coronavirus Pandemic which is on its way to overburdening the city’s abilities.

Today, Governor Cuomo announced how there would be a change in this approach.

The following is NY State Governor Cuomo speaking of the change in handling COVID-19 patients in as far as the Jacob Javits Convention Center is concerned:

“As we all know the growing coronavirus cases are threatening the capacity of our hospital system. The state-owned Javits Center has been turned into a 2,500-bed emergency medical facility being run by the US Army. The original plan for Javits was that it be used to take non-COVID patients from hospitals to open up hospital beds. However, the number of COVID positive patients has increased so dramatically that it would be beneficial to the state if Javits could accept COVID positive patients.”

“I asked President Trump this morning to consider the request and the urgency of the matter, and the President has just informed me that he granted New York’s request. I thank the President for his cooperation in this pressing matter and his expeditious decision making.”