CenturyLink Field Event Center hospital redeployed to another state

The field hospital currently housed at the CenturyLink Field Event Center in Seattle will be redeployed to another state in need, Gov. Inslee announced Wednesday.

Photo gallery: Field hospital at CenturyLink Field Event Center

After consultation with local, state, and federal leaders, the decision was made to return the field hospital from the Department of Defense to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a state with a more significant need.

“Don’t let this decision give you the impression that we are out of the woods,” Inslee cautioned in a written statement. “We have to keep our guard up and continue to say home unless conducting essential activities to keep everyone healthy.”

Inslee said the field hospital was requested prior to the full implementation of distancing measures, when there were concerns that our hospitals would be burdened with COVID-19 patients and unable to care for everyone who needed medical attention.

“But we haven’t beat this virus yet, and until we do, it has the potential to spread rapidly if we don’t continue the measures we’ve put in place,” Inslee said.

Washington state has purchased equipment to support hospitals in the event of a surge in cases, including additional hospital beds and ventilators, according to the governor’s office.

A former medical center in Yakima has also been approved to open if needed, and could support up to 250 patients.

“Our community mitigation measures, combined with the amazing work of our hospitals and health care providers throughout the region, as well as our procurement of various hospital supplies, lends us to believe that at this point, our hospitals should have enough capacity to support a surge in patients,” Inslee added.

The governor thanked the men and women from the 627th Hospital Center in Fort Carson, Colo., who came up to Seattle to help staff the field hospital.

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“It’s become apparent that other states need them more than we do,” he said. “It’s only right that we release this capability so those states have the tools necessary to help end this nation-wide fight that we are all battling together.”

According to the latest predictive data from the UW, Washington state moved past its peak demand for hospital resources last week on April 2.

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