A $21 million field hospital in Brooklyn, New York, authorized by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic opened and closed without seeing any patients.
The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook was one of several makeshift hospital sites throughout the city intended to relieve the city’s overcrowded hospitals brimming with coronavirus patients, the New York Post reported.
De Blasio announced plans for the 750-bed $20.8 million field hospital in Red Hook on March 31, one day after the USNS Comfort hospital ship arrived in New York to aid in the fight against coronavirus.
WABC reported that the USNS Comfort treated 182 patients over three and a half weeks before it departed at the end of April.
The makeshift hospital in Brooklyn was slated to open in April, but it was not ready for use until May 4, and the site is now being disbanded after not being used, the City reported.
“As part of our hospital surge, we expanded capacity at a breakneck speed, ensuring our hospital infrastructure would be prepared to handle the very worst. We did so only with a single-minded focus: saving lives,” de Blasio spokeswoman Avery Cohen told the Post Friday.
“Over the past few months, social distancing, face coverings, and other precautionary measures have flattened the curve drastically, and we remain squarely on focused [sic] taking that progress even further,” Cohen added.
The funding for the Red Hook makeshift hospital is expected to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
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