The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the opening of numerous field hospitals around the country, including in New York City and Chicago. Nine months later, as cases of the illness are surging again, it looks as though cities again are preparing to reopen these facilities.
New York will order hospitals in the state to boost bed capacity by 25 percent, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a media briefing Dec. 7, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. The order is due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. Currently 4,602 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized in the state.
Cuomo said New York can order hospitals to boost bed capacity up to 50 percent, but the state will only ask them to boost by 25 percent because "we don't have a capacity criticality at this moment," adding that if necessary, New York can add 5,000 field hospital beds, but he views that step as a last resort.
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