King County puts finishing touches on coronavirus field hospitals
Apr 1, 2020, 7:20 AM
King County is putting the finishing touches on field hospitals around the region, which will soon handle overflow cases of COVID-19.
PHOTOS: Field hospital at CenturyLink Field Event Center
I walked the perimeter of a Shoreline field hospital on Tuesday. The fences have been covered with a black privacy mesh. The two temporary structures look like giant hospitality tents, like people saw during the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.
They are enclosed and have huge ventilation pipes coming out of the sides. There are two of them on the north end of the Shoreline sports complex, taking over the field turf soccer fields there.
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There is enough room for 140 beds at the Shoreline site. These field hospitals will provide assessment and recovery care for people who are not able to recover in their homes, or do not have homes at all. The goal is to use these hospitals to keep pressure off the emergency rooms so they can focus the most urgent needs.
King County Executive Dow Constantine will tour the site Wednesday.
There are also sites going up in Interbay, SoDo, and Bellevue, including one at CenturyLink Field.