FEMA, U.S. Army to Convert Javits Convention Center in Manhattan Into 2,000-Bed Field Hospital to Treat Coronavirus Patients

NEW YORK CITY — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers (USACE) have begun a rapid conversion of the 1.8-million-square-foot Javits Convention Center in Manhattan into a 2,000-bed field hospital to treat coronavirus patients, according to a statement from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. FEMA is constructing four 250-bed temporary hospitals in the main showroom of the center, each approximately 40,000 square feet in size. A staff of 320 FEMA workers will be assigned to the facility. The USACE is constructing an additional 1,000-bed facility on the site. The makeshift hospital is slated for completion within a week. As of March 26, The Wall Street Journal tracked 33,033 cases of coronavirus in New York — nearly half the number of all cases in the country — and 366 confirmed deaths.