Sleep Train Arena to become 360-bed coronavirus hospital, Army Corps says
The Army Corps of Engineers is planning to create a 360-bed field hospital to treat both coronavirus and regular trauma care patients in Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena, as it shifts away from initially planning to use hotel rooms, the Corps’ chief engineer said Friday.
The field hospital would be part of a national effort by the Army Corps to give states extra capacity to deal with the potential of high numbers of coronavirus patients who otherwise might overwhelm regional hospitals.
The Army Corps of Engineers is supporting the state of California under a FEMA mission assignment to provide planning and site assessments for alternate care facilities in California.
A spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, which is working with the Army Corps and FEMA, said however the decision to open a Sacramento field hospital hasn’t been finalized. Brian Ferguson of OES said his office plans to open as many as eight mobile hospitals in the state as soon as possible, and that work is underway already on one in Riverside and another in Santa Clara. A decision on the other six is expected in the next few days.
The Sacramento Kings, which owns the arena, and is marketing the site for redevelopment, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Natomas Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said they are in talks with state officials about ways of expanding the area’s hospital capacity, but did not directly address the Sleep Train site.
“We are working closely with the state on every possible option to increase hospital bed capacity as needed. There have not yet been any decisions made on any specific site,” they wrote.
The Army Corps is also planning to be on the ground in Washington state next week to assess facilities there, including the Seattle Seahawks stadium, said Army Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general and chief engineer of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The event centers are just two of 114 locations in all 50 states where governors are now asking the Corps to help them set up hospital beds as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise across the country, Semonite said.
“I would think that the 114 is going to keep going up by 20 to 30 every single day,” he told reporters at the Pentagon.
Over the last week, the Corps has shifted from its initial plan to convert hotel rooms into hospital rooms, to using large convention and sports centers to avoid delays from signing a lease with each hotel while demand for hospital beds rapidly increases.
Each one of those 114 locations may need 5,000 to 10,000 beds, Semonite said.
The Corps also did not previously think it could create sites that were isolated within large event centers, he said.
“The one in California, the Sacramento one, what my guys are telling me is that it’s going to be COVID in one portion and non-COVID in the other,” Semonite said.
“I did not think we could meet the COVID standard in a massive big building,” he said. “But my engineers are telling me we think we’ve got the capability to do that.”
In Seattle, the Corps is still in preliminary discussions on using CenturyLink field to create hospital space. The hospital area would not be on the open field, but in one of the adjoining facilities, Semonite said.
Semonite said he will be traveling to Chicago and then Seattle next week to look at sites.
The Corps is also in active discussions with the state of Florida because of the rapid growth in the number of cases there.
“When we look at Florida, you have a more aging community there, I know the state continues to look at challenges in Miami, Orlando and Tampa,” Semonite said. “Right now we are still developing options and it’s probably premature — but we’re very aware because of the little bit more senior community, that that could be an unbelievable high demand.”
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 3:49 PM.
