Current patients will be treated throughout the duration of their illnesses.
In a recent press release from the Mayor’s office, the city announced that it would begin deconstructing the McCormick Place Health Facility due to a lower-than-estimated number of incoming patients.
The city initially began its transformation of the McCormick Place convention center into a field hospital in late March. Its intention was to open a facility that was capable of handling a surge of COVID patients and alleviate the strain on local hospitals.
“The McCormick Place Alternate Care Facility was originally developed out of a abundance of caution and based on data projections of over 40,000 hospitalizations in a matter of weeks, and the facility was meant to relieve that anticipated pressure on our local healthcare systems,” read the press release.
However, due to the flattening of the city’s cases, local hospitals are presently operating in capacity, thus eliminating the need for McCormick Place.
“We are pleased to report that the curve is flattening, and our local hospitals and healthcare systems continue to operate with capacity, therefore, the McCormick Place ACF will stop operating in its clinical needs testing phase,” read the press release.
“All patients currently receiving care at McCormick will continue to receive outstanding medical care for the duration of their illness and plans for deconstruction are currently underway. The unit with the negative pressure tents will remain assembled to continue upholding the facility’s original mission, as the City and State monitor hospital capacity when elective surgeries begin again.”
Until this point, there have been 68,232 COVID-19 cases in Illinois, with 27,568 of those cases in Chicago. According to JB Pritzker’s 5-step plan of restoring Illinois, the state is currently in Phase 2, wherein rates of COVID-19 have diminished.
In this phase, citizens can participate in outdoor activities while maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.
Phase 3, the recovery phase, will occur when the need for ICU beds stabilizes or lowers due to the declining number of incoming patients. The earliest time for this phase to begin is May 29.
“While this marks a critical moment and a large step forward in our collective fight against COVID-19, we must stay the course until data shows further progress in a reduction of new cases and as widespread testing comes online,” per the press release.
[Featured image via shutterstock]