D.C. Convention Center To Be Turned into Hospital

April 18, 2020 (EIRNS)—Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday that the Corps will be converting the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. into a temporary hospital of 500–1,500 beds. “I think [D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser] was concerned,” Semonite said. “We’re watching the number [of cases.”

Mayor Bowser confirmed the project in a press conference earlier the same day, saying that the hospital will be used for coronavirus patients in a “worst-case scenario,” but that the goal is “to never have to use the convention center,” reported Washington-based daily, The Hill. Bowser said the Army Corps of Engineers will begin to set up the convention center as a hospital on Monday, with 500 non-intensive acute care beds available by the first week of May. As of April 17, the number of cases in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia was over 20,000, with 742 deaths.