US Open venue set to transform into a 350-bed temporary hospital
Wednesday 1 April 2020 10:35, UK
A portion of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is set to transform into a 350-bed temporary hospital amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The news comes after a military hospital ship arrived in New York as America's coronavirus epicentre gears up for the peak of the pandemic, while construction on a 68-bed field hospital in Central Park also began.
The site of the US Open at Flushing Meadows has been thrust into the fray amid a medical crisis that has brought professional sports to a sudden and indefinite halt.
Chris Widmaier, spokesman for the US Tennis Association, which owns the tennis center, said that the conversion of an indoor tennis facility at the venue would begin on Tuesday.
"We're here to help, no two ways about it," Widmaier said. "New York is our home, we're all in this together."
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New York City emergency management (NYCEM) informed the USTA of its plans with spokesman Omar Bourne saying: "The site is likely to be non-Covid patients, and we will evaluate based on need."
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