Army Corps Strategy Evolves Into Using Convention Center Spaces for COVID-19 Care

USACElearned from Midwest successes that large spaces could be adapted

USACEAlternate Care Contracts — 美国陆军工程兵团共有14所示,732 beds in alternate care facilities contracted or pending final approval with more being built by the states.Chart courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

USACECoronavirus Alternate Care Facilities — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has four standard designs for alternate care facilities in sports stadiums, convention centers, college dorms and hotels. To date, the Corps has completed assessments of 756 of 851 facilities that may be able to be used as alternate care facilities for either COVID-19 patients or to serve people who otherwise might need to be hospitalized during the pandemic.Chart courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The TCF Center in Detroit Alternate Care Facility — Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, commanding general of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was on site at the TCF Center in Detroit, Mich., to tour and brief State and City leaders about the Detroit District's Alternate Care Facility construction progress.Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Quad Chart for the Conversion of the TCF Center in Detroit — This "quad" chart shows the plan, progress, potential need for COVID-19 beds and the $11.5-million FEMA contract that funds the conversion of Detroit's TCF Center into an alternate care facility.Chart courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

April 4, 2020

Jeff Yoders

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As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began to convert convention centers and hotels into alternate care facilities in early April to alleviate pressure on local hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, the initial plan was to care for COVID-19 negative patients in places such as Chicago's McCormick Place, New York's Jacob K. Javits Center and Detroit's TCF Center. That strategy shifted after leaders in the USACE, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services saw what USACE engineers could do with convention center spaces.

"I was not convinced we could actually change the pressure in these large convention centers to a point that would actually achieve the desired results [of care for COVID-19 positive patients] we're looking for," says Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, chief of engineers and commanding general of the USACE at a Pentagon press conference April 3. "When I was in Detroit the other day with the governor [of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer] talking to the mechanical engineers, our guys and their guys have done a phenomenal job on some relatively minor changes."

The experience on the ground at the TCF Center and Chicago's McCormick Place convinced Semonite that care for COVID-19 positive patients is an option in what the USACE and FEMA call the convention center model for alternate care facilities. Semonite said the utility of modern convention centers allowed the unexpected shift to caring for more COVID-19 patients. Engineers on the ground found that no significant mechanical changes were needed in most cases. The changes needed were as simple as a couple of technicians going into a mechanical or HVAC control room to make modifications.

"It was like turning down your thermostat in your house versus going in and replumbing an entire mechanical room," he said.

McCormick Place和TCF中心都已经转换为将要照顾低到中等风险的COVID-19患者的设施，并且两者都可以在4月24日之前预计患者涌入。Semonite显示了9,693的图表。床目前正在全国各地的九项不同合同中，目前正在八个会议中心准备。其中，现在只计划将2,060个床置于19张床。其余的7,633个将用于治疗和康复病毒。还有九个设施，有5,039张床，目前与USACE的合同正在待处理，还有15个仍处于此过程阶段的设施。在USACE的设计协助下，各州和市政当局建造了八个带有5,643张床的床。

Semonite说：“每当您有标准设计时，我们都希望继续学习。”“在纽约市的最后几天，我一直在芝加哥和底特律。我们继续看到我们实际上在做这种建筑的工程师在我们网站如何适应该标准设计方面具有创新性更多的能力回到了将照顾这些患者的伟大医生和护士。”

Semonite also stressed that the eight facilities currently being repurposed by the USACE, as well as others that are being built by the states and cities through their procurement processes, are all being planned based on expected need discerned from modeling data from the coronavirus task force chaired by Vice President Mike Pence [R]. Many of those models plot the number of people getting the virus against two variables: exponential or a higher rate of growth than the national norm in a locality and the possible bed shortage in that locality.

Cause for Concern

USACE已收到750项替代护理设施的现场评估请求，迄今已完成673个。Semonite表示，USACE领导层正在与佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯（Ron DeSantis）沟通，并正在研究那里的地点，并且佛罗里达州的数据和人口统计学是引起人们关注的原因。

"I want to reassure every community, whether a large city or a small town, if your mayor needs to have the Corps of Engineers come in to do an assessment of a site, we have the capacity to do that," Semonite said.

每个替代护理机构都在市长或州长想要使用的医疗计划的规格上建立，并且每个站点都与其他承包商一起交付。例如，在底特律的TCF中心，塞蒙特（Semonite）表示，该市要求USACE设计一个歧管系统，该系统将管道放在天花板上，将氧气降低到特定区域的每个患者豆荚中。

He also stressed that working with Gov. Whitmer, Ill. Governor J.B. Pritzker [D] and local officials on the ground is what helped the USACE, FEMA and HHS shift its strategy.

"Every single site we go through we learn, we wrap that back into our analysis," he said. "The convention center models, specifically Detroit and Chicago, convinced us that we are able to make that happen."

新利18备用ENR中西部编辑和副技术编辑Jeff Yoders一直在撰写有关设计和建筑创新的文章。他曾两次获得杰西·H·尼尔（Jesse H. Neal）奖的获奖者，并获得了多个ASBPE冠军。杰夫（Jeff）此前启动了Building Design + Construction的建筑信息建模博客，并在CE News撰写了地理信息系统列。他还撰写了有关MetalMiner.com的材料价格，建筑采购和估算的文章。他住在摩天大楼的发源地芝加哥，创新的步伐永远不会让他没有追逐的故事。