Army field hospital could take COVID-19 patients if needed

SEATTLE — The Army field hospital at Century Link will continue to accept non-COVID patients unless civilian hospitals are overwhelmed treating people with the coronavirus.

That word tonight came from Gov. Jay Inslee on the day the field hospital opened to patients for the first time.

The hospital's mission could change if there is an explosion of COVID-19 patients.

The mission of this field hospital at Century Link was clear from the start. It would accept only patients who are not positive for COVID-19.

Now, Gov. Jay Inslee says that could change if the pressure on local hospitals becomes overwhelming.

Military trucks were making deliveries; soldiers seemed to be everywhere. This, on the first day that the Century Link Field Event Center, long a venue for events from the boat show to concerts, officially became home to a 250-bed, U. S. Army field hospital.

"We really want to make sure that this facility that our moms and dads and sisters and brothers can also feel safe to be taken care of here," said Col. Amal Chatila of the 47th Combat Support Hospital at Joint Base Lewis-McChord yesterday.

But that care the commander referred to is for patients still sick enough to be hospitalized but not sick with the coronavirus.

Now concerns are arising over whether that mission should be modified. KIRO 7's Essex Porter put the question to Inslee.

"Will you ask that patients with mild COVID-19 be treated at the Century Link hospital as well?" he asked.

"The Century Link field is intended to treat non-COVID patients," said Inslee, "to free up capacity where it is more efficient to have the current hospitals treat the COVID patients."

But the U. S. Navy-built field hospital inside the Jacob Javits Center in New York City is now admitting COVID-19 patients, so overwhelmed are hospitals there during this pandemic.

And Inslee concedes that could happen here.

"Now if somehow the capacity of the existing hospitals was outstripped by the demand," he said, "then there might be a possibility of using the Century Link assets."

This field hospital already has an isolation unit, in case a patient or a soldier comes down with COVID-19, and 48 ICU beds.

Moreover, those running this facility pledge they can handle whatever this region and the pandemic require.

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