The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to build out 1 billion in makeshift hospitals, according to an article on the ABC Action News website.
To date, FEMA has funded some 32 missions in 25 states and one tribal nation. They’ve contracted the Army Corps of Engineers to design and build out these alternative care sites at a cost of $1.6 billion.
These are preparations and responses for a surge of coronavirus patients that, in a worst-case scenario, could overwhelm hospitals and emergency rooms.
“We need to have a place for subacute patients,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Doug O’Brien said in the article. O’Brien said the situation is constantly being reassessed.
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