ALBUQUERQUE – An alternate care overflow facility in New Mexico designed to house coronavirus patients has remained locked and unused as hospitals across the state are increasingly slammed.
The state of New Mexico and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invested $3.6 million to renovate the now-closed hospital in Albuquerque, promising it would be “operational” by April 27 for nonacute patients recovering from COVID-19, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
The facility, which previously housed Lovelace Hospital, is one of 38 alternate care sites set up by the Army Corps of Engineers across the United States.
The state signed a one-year lease to use 360,000 square feet of the privately-owned Gibson Medical Center for $8.6 million a year. But it is still unclear when or if the space will be used for COVID-19 patients, even as the confirmed number of cases and hospitalizations continue to break records.
The New Mexico Health Department did not respond to an interview request by the Journal, but said in a written statement that the Gibson Medical Center remains an option for addressing overcrowding.
State health officials said opening the 200-bed backup unit now will be difficult because of a shortage of medical staff in New Mexico and surrounding states.
State Human Resources Department spokeswoman Jodi McGinnis Porter said Tuesday that original staffing was going to come from the New Mexico National Guard followed by support staff from the University of New Mexico Medical Center.
Currently, the state is considering a federal request for Department of Defense military personnel to staff the facility.
The concern comes as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations shatter state records.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s medical adviser Dr. David Scrase said last week that hospitals statewide were reporting 92% of their general hospital beds were full.
“We expect to run out of general hospital beds in a matter of days, not weeks,” Scrase said.
