It just hosted Super Bowl fans. Now Miami Beach center may house coronavirus patients
More than 80,000 football fans from near and far gravitated toward Miami Beach ahead of February’s Super Bowl, and the city’s convention center was the Number One draw — apart from the famed beaches of South Beach, which were not yet ordered closed due to coronavirus fears.
Now, to provide relief to area hospitals, the Miami Beach Convention Center may soon be housing patients after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $22 million contract to convert the 1.4 million-square-foot facility into a field hospital.
It has not yet been announced whether the hospital would house coronavirus patients or serve as an overflow facility for hospitals.
“This is obviously a precaution that assumes the worst case scenario, but it’s better to be prepared for the worst case than to hope for the best case,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. “It will sit vacant hopefully until it is dismantled.”
The center, which recently wrapped up a $620 million renovation, will be the first field hospital the Army Corps has built in Florida and the second of its kind in Miami-Dade County. The state set up a 250-bed medical tent at Tamiami Park late last month to handle overflow patients. Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the facility is likely to remain empty, as projections showed the county would not have to resort to an overflow hospital.
The Convention Center hospital is expected to be complete by April 27, but preliminary work to install 450 beds may begin as early as Wednesday.
The total number of beds at the hospital will be determined at a later time.
Army Corps staff have scheduled a Tuesday visit to the convention center, located blocks from Lincoln Road in South Beach, to review the “final logistics of the build-out,” according to an email from City Manager Jimmy Morales to the City Commission.
The city’s legal staff is working with the Florida Division of Emergency Management to draft documentation under which the division would receive control of the convention center and authorize the Army Corps to build out the facility.
“We will be using this facility only if it is required, and we will put the proper medical and security protocols in place to protect the community,” said Miami Beach Commissioner Mark Samuelian.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 11:57 AM.
.JPG)