As the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in March 2020, several large cities, includingNew York City andChicago, opened field hospitals to help larger facilities deal with the rapidly growing numbers of patients. Then as the second wave of the pandemic struck last fall, hospitals in states such as California and Rhode Island took similar steps. Now, Texas is opening additional space to care for a growing number of patients.

An alternate care site at the AustinConvention Center recently accepted its first patient, according to KVUE. And more could be getting ready to be transported, as an unspecified number of other patients' charts are being reviewed for admittance. Right now, there are 25 beds ready in the convention center, but health officials say they can expand and treat more patients if needed.

The field hospital opening is bittersweet news for some local hospitals, as its goal is to free up much-needed space for beds in those hospitals. But the fact that it needed to be opened at all, some doctors say, should serve as a warning. 

ADr. Natasha Kathuria, an emergency room doctor in Austin, hopes it will help ease the stress on some hospitals. 

"I mean, you open one – just one bed, two beds, five beds, the convention center has the potential of opening so many more beds for our city that are so necessary,” she says. “Otherwise, the problem is backlogs into the ER and we end up having to hold these patients in the emergency department. And we don't want that. It becomes a burden if we can't isolate patients.”

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