Chattanooga’s Convention Center, empty for the past three weeks because all conventions and meetings were canceled due to the coronavirus, is being converted into a temporary hospital to house those with COVID-19 who need non-acute medical care.
The 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall in downtown Chattanooga will become a medical treatment facility within the next three weeks, with 350 hospital beds.
The Chattanooga convention complex is one of four such facilities being set up for emergency care in each of Tennessee’s major cities. Collectively, the new facilities will provide an additional 7,000 beds to help cope with the expected surge in those infected with the virus and free up beds in standard hospitals for more acute care for COVID-19-infected people.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who authorized plans for the temporary facilities along with issuing a stay-at-home executive order on Thursday, said Friday the state is looking for other properties to add even more hospital bed capacity once the number of people infected with the virus reaches its peak in the coming weeks.
“We have a tremendous challenge ahead of us as Tennesseans,” Lee said. “We want to expand the capacity of our health care system all across the state so that we can meet the needs of the surge that we all know is coming. We don’t know exactly what that surge will be or exactly the time that surge will occur, but we do know it is coming and we want to do what we can to be ready for it.”