GALLUP, N.M. – A high school in Gallup will reopen its gym as a 60-bed alternative care facility to help hospitals treat an increasing number of coronavirus patients, a federal engineering agency said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expecting to turn over the keys to Miyamura High School to local and state health officials on Monday, about two weeks after construction began, the Gallup Independent reported.
“The majority of the big items are in,” Project Manager Amanda Velasquez said. “Everything is more of the fine tuning now.”
Vinyl flooring and rubber pads were fixed to the gym floor, swamp coolers were placed on the roof to provide cool air and two large exhaust ducts were installed to provide proper ventilation and separate dirty and clean air, said Lt. Col. Robin Scott, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Albuquerque District.
“We came up with a simple design. This wasn’t a time for us to get fancy,” Scott said.
The gym now features 60 patient pods separated by medical curtains, which each include one electrical outlet, an Ethernet jack, lighting and oxygen, Velasquez said. Laundry sinks are also positioned throughout the gym as hand-washing stations.
Other places in the school are also being transformed, such as locker rooms to shower rooms, classrooms to medical staff lounges and storage and the snack bar to a pharmacy, Velasquez said.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham first announced that the high school was selected as the site for an auxiliary hospital in McKinley County on April 3.
The first patients with COVID-19 may be admitted as early as April 25, local hospital officials said.
According to the state Department of Health, New Mexico had at least 51 deaths and more than 1,710 reported coronavirus patients as of Saturday morning.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers works in support of projects needed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in partnership with state, local and tribal government partners, Scott said.
