DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announces pop-up Washington Convention Center as a surge care site

DC mayor Muriel Bowser went live this morning to share new details about #StayHomeDC efforts including the launch of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (801 Mt Vernon Pl NW, Washington, DC 20001) as a new surge pop-up care site.

As of this week, this location is ready to accept up to 100 in-patient admissions. Once fully-up and running, the Walter E Washingting Convention Center Hall A will provide capacity for 437 hospital beds. This represents about a 10% increase in hospital surge capacity in DC.

The location includes 10' x 10' "treament pods are offered for standard treatment and special 20' x 20' expanded pods are included for patients needing intense medical intervention. In addition, the facility was designed with an oxygen production plant, sufficient back up genertors, and clear negative and positive pressure zones to control inflow and outflow of supplies, patients, and healthcare professionals. All of this was completed in only 22 days.

Hall B and Hall C could be expanded if future capacity demands it.

Other highlights from the meeting includes that current hospital capacity is around 71%, which is on-par for capacity in the non-covid-19 times. There is a lot of nuance in a number like this, especially including the delay of all elective surgergies.

Mayor Bowser states: "we hope we never have to use this capacity. This is our insurance policy should we need the excess capacity."