An emergency field hospital erected in Central Park to treat COVID-19 patients is to close, the group running it announces, as coronavirus cases continue to decline in New York.
Some dozen tents, with ventilators, went up on a lawn opposite Mount Sinai Hospital at the end of March as the Big Apple boosted hospital capacity for the outbreak’s peak.
Samaritan’s Purse, a US-based Christian global relief agency, says the temporary hospital had treated 191 people infected with coronavirus and would stop admitting new patients from Monday.
It will take approximately two weeks to treat the last patients before the tents are decontaminated and taken down, it added in a statement sent to AFP.
“This marks a significant turning point in the coronavirus outbreak in New York because it means the case numbers are declining to the point that the local healthcare system will be able to meet the needs,” the charity says.
The field hospital proved controversial, with LGBT groups pointing out that staff and volunteers are required to sign a “statement of faith” stressing that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
— AFP
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