Javits Center Hospital Will Now Take Coronavirus Patients: Trump

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The hospital facility created at Midtown Manhattan's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center will treat coronavirus patients, a reversal of plans to keep the facility coronavirus-free, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.

Federal officials approved a request made by New York to treat coronavirus patients at the 2,500-bed facility, President Donald Trump and Cuomo said Thursday. The facility will be entirely staffed and operated by United States Army personnel, Trump said during his daily press briefing.

Cuomo said in a statement that he made the request during a Thursday morning phone call with the president and thanked Trump for making the concession.

"The original plan for Javits was that it be used to take non-COVID patients from hospitals to open up hospital beds. However, the number of COVID positive patients has increased so dramatically that it would be beneficial to the state if Javits could accept COVID positive patients," Cuomo said in a statement.

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The medical facility at the Javits Center launched operations this week as a non-coronavirus facility. The 2,500-bed hospital was initially planned to take on patients who hospitals needed to discharge to make room for people suffering coronavirus.

Plans to use the 1,000-bed USNS Comfort as a non-coronavirus facility have not changed.

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