The US military will convert three temporary medical facilities in New York, New Orleans, and Dallas into facilities capable of treating patients with the coronavirus, the Pentagon announced Friday.
“At the request of FEMA, the Department of Defense will expand its medical support to include Covid-19 positive patients at the Javits Federal Medical Station (FMS) in New York City, the Morial FMS in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Kay Bailey Hutchinson FMS in Dallas, Texas,” the statement said.
“These three DoD-supported locations will now provide support to Covid-19 positive patients in convalescent care, as well as low-acuity patients. These patients, who require a lower level of medical care, must first be screened at a local hospital,” the statement added.
What's this about: Originally all three facilities were intended to treat non-coronavirus patients in order to free up capacity at civilian hospitals.
On Thursday President Trump confirmed the Javits Center would be converted into a facility capable of treating coronavirus patients, a move that has been requested by New York’s governor.