
New York City Weighs Turning Hotels into Hospitals - JumpCrisscross
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-weighs-turning-hotels-into-hospitals-11584556841
======
robotbikes
In Ohio they had the head of the state association of hospitals float the idea
at a press conference. He seemed to talking about the possibility taking
floors of existing hotels and using them for non COVID19 patients that didn't
require super urgent care so that wouldn't be in danger of getting infected
if/when the hospitals begin to fill up with people dealing with COVID19. They
also asked doctors, dentists and vets to not perform and non-essential
operations so we could preserve the stockpile if protective gear. I hope other
states take more of the actions that Ohio has been doing and find it insane
that 3 states held in person primaries during a pandemic whereas Ohio delayed
it as a public health emergency and Georgia did something similar a week or so
ago. Public health matters.

~~~
Jeema101
Ohioan here. DeWine (governor of Ohio) actually ordered the primary halted in
defiance of a court order on Monday.

It was only later that night that the Ohio Supreme Court sided with him, but
the election was kind of already thrown into disarray by then.

We need more leaders like him who are willing to take personal risks during
this crisis. I say this as a Democrat by the way.

~~~
_dark_matter_
100% agreed. Fellow democratic Ohioan, and I am extremely proud of the way
DeWine is handling this situation. It really helps me and my family breathe a
sigh of relief to know our state government puts our health interests first.

------
mark_l_watson
That sounds like a good idea.

I hope one thing comes out of this pandemic: that our governments, local and
federal, stockpile portable tent hospitals and equipment that can be put in
place quickly for future problems. I doubt this will happen in the USA, but
that is what I hope happens. I think health infrastructure is part of national
security and should receive appropriate resources.

~~~
syntaxing
Totally agree but not to be pedant, but state governments should have some
sort of emergency provisions as well. Some people forget we're the United
States for a reason. Each state is actually it's own "functional" government.
Maybe we should start training state troopers as well for some of these
possibilities.

~~~
untog
I look at it the other way. _Why_ does it all have to be done at a state
level? Because that's how things have always been? Meh. There are very clear
efficiencies to be gained by coordinating response to events like this at a
national level, and it's not like individual states are about to declare
independence. Over time the structure of the US could end up being more of a
weakness than a strength. It's not as if the virus respects state borders.

~~~
i_am_proteus
Because the nature of response varies so much in between different locations
and local expertise is often best poised to deal with local problems. Federal
resources are better for things like logistics (ship 500,000 masks to where
they're needed), but New York probably knows how to get aid to New York best.

Ignoring local expertise to blindly chase efficiency of large-scale enterprise
is perilous.

~~~
untog
> Because the nature of response varies so much in between different locations
> and local expertise is often best poised to deal with local problems.

Is that really true here? I can certainly see an urban vs rural divide, but
beyond that I can’t see what makes individual states all that different.

~~~
ReptileMan
Population density. Climate - so far COVID 19 seems to thrive better in cold
and dry conditions. Culture - not all measures will be easily sold to all.
Medical fatalities - availability and capacity.

~~~
untog
Most of those are true within states as well, though. Most contain both cities
and rural areas. So why is it better to separate one state’s rural areas from
anothers?

------
jedberg
There was a guy on here a few days ago who owns some hotels.

He said he would be fine with this as long as they:

paid to move his current customers to his other hotels,

cleaned the rooms and returned them to their original condition when they were
done,

provided safety gear to his employees that would need to keep working,

and provide paychecks for his employees that are furloughed.

I think. I can't find the comment now but that was the gist of it.

~~~
empath75
They're probably not going to be in any position to make demands like that.

~~~
jedberg
I don't think they can just take over a hotel without any input from the
owner. This is still the US. We do still have some rule of law.

~~~
joshstrange
IANAL but I'm pretty sure the Defense Production Act [0] (which he invoked
today) allows him to do just that.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Production_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Production_Act)

~~~
matt_the_bass
I usually avoid snark here but: isn’t there someone higher government that
owns a bunch of hotels that are not in disrepair in major cities that likely
have few if any clients currently?

------
airstrike
Gov. Cuomo a couple days ago asked cities in the NY state to identify where
they could fit improvised beds. The quota for NYC was 5,000. Seems like hotels
are an obvious choice, given their optimal layout and how empty they are

[https://cornellsun.com/2020/03/16/cuomo-proposes-
converting-...](https://cornellsun.com/2020/03/16/cuomo-proposes-converting-
suny-dorm-beds-into-hospital-beds/)

~~~
burlesona
I assume you meant hotels, not hospitals.

~~~
airstrike
Yes, sorry, fixed, thanks!

------
vminkov
Sounds like they could bail them out along the way by reimbursing them later

------
asdf2020
Hospitals rely on 100% outside. Meaning they don't recycle existing air
already circulated. Pretty sure hotels don't have that kind of HVAC.

~~~
syntaxing
I wonder if NYC hotels can do this but a lot newer HVAC system allow changing
the percentage of outside air. Its advantageous for varies reasons (energy
consumption, etc) to use partial recycle air but I wouldn't be surprised if
certain builds have 100% outside air capabilities.

------
dayofthedaleks
I hear NYU and Columbia's dorms are empty.

~~~
andbberger
For a reason. Dorms are shared everything. Not really a great place for
isolating people.

~~~
nostromo
Isolation isn't necessary if they're all infected with the same virus.

~~~
beamatronic
Does isolation reduce viral load?

------
mihemihe
Madrid, Spain just announced 40 hospitals will be turned to hospital rooms.
9,000 beds.

~~~
anticensor
> hospitals will be turned to hospital rooms

There is a logical mistake in this sentence.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
I'll be honest, it won't be much work, and should be done quickly.

~~~
spease
Turning a hospital into a hospital room? That’s going to require some serious
Time Lord engineering.

------
jasondigitized
All the malls that have closed?

------
EGreg
Well, they have a lot of the infrastucture. The beds are different.

~~~
credit_guy
Right now there are 53k hospital beds in the state of New York, and 3k of them
are ICU beds. The prediction [1] is that in 45 days we'll need 55k-110k beds
for the severe cases of Covid19, from which up to 37k ICU beds. Now, maybe you
can't make ICU beds in hotels, but maybe you can make regular hospital beds.
They'll be useful too.

[1] [https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/cuomo-says-trump-is-
dispatch...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/cuomo-says-trump-is-dispatching-
a-floating-hospital-to-new-york-state.html)

------
neonate
[https://archive.md/ns6uG](https://archive.md/ns6uG)

------
asah
public school gymnasiums?

~~~
beamatronic
Convention centers

------
vanniv
Cruise ships aren't bad options either.

I hear they're a bit underutilized

~~~
daenz
I like the spirit of the idea (keeping them away from others), but other than
that, it's not a wise idea:

>Keeping all the passengers on board instead of letting them disembark on land
is a strategy that can backfire, however, according to experts, because the
ventilation systems and close quarters of cruise ships make them ideal places
for illness to jump from one person to the next.

>“They’re not designed as quarantine facilities, to put it mildly,” said Don
Milton, an epidemiologist with the University of Maryland.

>Milton, who studies the spread of virus particles in the air, said
recirculating air on a cruise ship’s ventilation system, along with people
living in close quarters and in communal settings, make the vessels vulnerable
to the spread of infection.

[https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/07/cor...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/07/coronavirus-
quarantine-cruise-ship-could-backfire-experts-say/4991376002/)

~~~
PeterisP
There's no concern for the spread of infection if you designate a facility (no
matter if it's a sports hall or a cruise ship) for holding and treating only
known patients of a single disease.

Yes, they're not suitable for quarantine of _possibly_ infected people - but
it seems that we're past that stage, with massive community spread, we're not
going to quarantine anyone, we're just going to ask possibly infected people
to please try and stay at home if it's not too inconvenient; I mean, most
countries don't even bother testing the possibly infected contacts anymore.

~~~
thephyber
That’s what I thought initially, but I remember reading that once pneumonia
sets in, those infected with COVID-19 are likely to suffer from secondary
infections. Not having an inventory of colds and flus to compound on COVID-19
would be a plus.

------
syntaxing
Paywalled but judging by the headline, it's honestly an interesting and great
idea. Pay the hotels so they can survive, create a conversion plan with
certain standards (Changing all filters to MERV-13 or something), and start
auditing the process.

~~~
mistrial9
yeah - except surplus profits for decades built more destination vacation
sites, luxury hotels and shopping malls, and not rank-and-file housing, due to
profits.. you are enthusiastically adding to the cash flow of those
decisions... when does this end?

~~~
cultus
It doesn't end. Plutocracy breeds more plutocracy. There's a positive feedback
loop because more money buys more governmental influence (i.e., rent seeking),
which then gets more money.

------
soggy-assistant
Man that headline - sensationalism at its finest.

