The Army Corps of Engineers began hiring private contractors to build emergency field hospitals in mid-March — an endeavor that cost over $660 million, an NPR analysis of federal spending finds. But most of these facilities haven't seen a single patient.
in March."You get as much as you can [get] done in three weeks. And then the mission is complete. We have a narrow window of opportunity. If we don't leverage that window of opportunity, we're gonna miss it."
The same story is playing out across the country. In fact, most Army Corps field hospitals haven't seen a single patient. The Army Corps limited the competition in awarding the projects to speed the process that usually takes six to nine months, according to agency documents. Officials noted they were able to complete the contract award for the Stony Brook project in"little more than three days."
Even in New York City, where the Army Corps field hospital did treat COVID-19 patients, it never reached full capacity. Medical supplies are viewed inside the Javits Center in March in New York City. The Javits field hospital treated about 1,100 patients while it was open for three weeks.The plan was for the Javits Center to take patients from overwhelmed hospitals in the city. But in practice it wasn't that easy. Some hospitals complained that the intake process was too complicated. And they sent few patients to Javits — even as they resorted to treating patients in the hallways.
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