Two Miami-Dade COVID hospitals haven’t treated a single patient. One closed this week.
Miami-Dade’s first coronavirus field hospital, assembled in March in Tamiami Park, was dismantled this week, while the state has extended its lease on the Miami Beach Convention Center, which was retrofitted with hospital facilities for COVID-19 patients in April.
Neither hospital has had a single patient.
The first, a 250-bed tent facility with curtains separating cots, was constructed at the county’s Youth Fair complex in Tamiami Park on a state contract in late March, but the overflow of patients it was built to accommodate never materialized and it was taken down.
“The last truck of gear rolled out today,” said Ray Casas, spokesman for the Youth Fair organization, which leases the campus from Miami-Dade.
The field hospital was one of many that Florida’s Division of Emergency Management stood up across the state in preparation for a potential coronavirus surge that could overwhelm hospitals. The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis signed $283 million in no-bid deals to build overflow hospital space.
COVID-19 testing is still offered on the site, according to a county website.
In late March, when the Tamiami Park site went online, projections showed that hospitals would not be overburdened by COVID cases and Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the hospitals would likely remain empty.
While the percentage of daily positive COVID-19 test results has shown a downward trend since May — it was 5.4 percent on Thursday — hospitalization metrics have shown little positive change. There was 28 percent availability at county hospitals on Thursday, down from 37 percent on April 28. There were 57 new hospitalizations for COVID-19 countywide on Thursday, up from 47 on April 28.
“I don’t know that anybody thinks that we’re out of this pandemic,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. “Part of the problem is that there is a sense that it’s over. And it’s not over. We just simply reduced it and demonstrated an ability to govern ourselves and control the spread. It’s just as deadly.”
Miami Beach COVID hospital stays open
Nearly $23 million and two months after it was built, the coronavirus field hospital at the Miami Beach Convention Center hasn’t seen a single patient either. But residents shouldn’t expect the publicly funded convention center or its surrounding parks to reopen anytime soon.
The 1.4 million-square-foot convention center will remain in state control through at least July 7, after the Florida Division of Emergency Management exercised an option May 23 to extend its lease term. The city also gave the state an option to extend the lease through Aug. 6.
“We extended it because it was the right thing to do,” City Manager Jimmy Morales said in a statement to the Miami Herald on Thursday. “The alternate care facility will hopefully never be needed, but if the State felt they wanted that insurance policy in place for an extra 30-60 days, we wanted to cooperate.”
Pride Park and Collins Canal Park, the closest parks to the convention center, remain closed to the public while most others in the city reopened following coronavirus closures.
The 450-bed field hospital, which is staffed with Florida National Guard medical personnel, was completed on April 20, according to contractor Robins & Morton. Earlier in April, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $22.5 million contract to the Alabama-based company to retrofit the convention center — which in February hosted a Super Bowl festival.
Conventions and trade shows are still banned under county coronavirus orders, and no events have been canceled due to the state use of the convention center, the city said.
The state is paying $228,750 per month for rent, which is 25% of the going rate of $915,000.
“It is not costing us anything,” Morales said. “We are actually receiving rental fees, plus the state pays for services received there, like food and beverage.”
While the convention center has not seen any patients, the nearby COVID-19 testing center — which the state stood up in an adjacent parking lot — has conducted 9,411 tests since May 8. The Florida National Guard is operating the center with the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
On Friday, the state began offering antibody testing at the South Beach site for anyone 18 years and older. The site can conduct 80 antibody tests and 750 standard tests per day.
“All staff that are currently at the facility are being utilized to operate the walk-up and drive-thru testing, while also being on standby should the facility be needed to treat patients,” a spokesman for the state agency said.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 5:07 PM.
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