Cuomo May Convert SUNY & CUNY Into Makeshift Hospitals

In today's COVID-19 update, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that FEMA is building 1,000 hospital beds and the Army Corps of Engineers is putting up temporary hospitals that will add another 4,000 hospital beds.

Cuomo said that it's a good start, but with the cases of the coronavirus accelerating within the state, it isn't enough. According to the article in nyup.com  As many as 140,000 hospital beds could be needed in 2-3 weeks, while the state currently has just over 53,000.

One option that Cuomo is considering is converting large facilities into temporary makeshift hospitals. One of the most obvious are the dorms of the CUNY and SUNY schools.

In terms of building more beds, as I have said we had the Army Corps of Engineers here and we are working with them. There is Lieutenant General Todd Semonite, who is really top professional. Ironically, I worked with him when I was at HUD building housing on Native American reservations at the Pine Ridge Reservation. So, he has been at the Corps a long time. He is top shelf.

We're looking at a possible number of locations for large, temporary facilities - Javits Center, number of CUNY sites, number of SUNY sites, St. Johns University wants to be helpful, Fordham University, so we're looking at all these sites and they're all under analysis, where do we have the space, where can we get up a temporary facility, how quickly? Gov. Cuomo March 20, 2020 Coronavirus Update

With most schools remote learning, now this might be a great option for the shortage of hospital beds during the coronavirus pandemic.