Trump approves New York’s Javits Center to treat coronavirus patients, Cuomo announces

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President Trump on Thursday approved New York City’s Javits Center to begin treating COVID-19 patients to free up space in the city’s crowded hospitals, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.

The Javits Center, located between 34th and 40th streets on the west side of the city, in Hell’s Kitchen, had been reconfigured earlier this week into a temporary hospital with 2,500 beds to treat non-coronavirus patients.

In this Friday, March 27, 2020 photo provided by Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, makeshift hospital rooms stretch out along the floor at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York.  (Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo via AP)

But with cases mounting in New York City -- the nation’s hardest-hit state -- Cuomo asked President Trump to consider the “urgency of the matter” in allowing coronavirus patients to be treated at the new facility.

“As we all know the growing coronavirus cases are threatening the capacity of our hospital system. The state-owned Javits Center has been turned into a 2,500-bed emergency medical facility being run by the US Army,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter in announcing President Trump’s approval.

As of Thursday, there were nearly 52,000 COVID-19 cases in New York City alone, with 1,397 deaths, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

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The arrangement with the Javits Center was one of many makeshift hospitals set up in the city to deal with the onslaught of coronavirus patients.

A Samaritan's Purse crew and medical personnel work on preparing to open a 68 bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York's Central Park, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in New York.  (AP)

On Wednesday, a 68-bed emergency field hospital for coronavirus patients opened in Central Park’s East Meadow. Meanwhile, state, city and federal officials say they have lined up -- and in some cases, opened -- dozens of additional spots for temporary hospitals around the metropolitan area.

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Over the next few weeks, spaces -- including pro tennis courts, college dorms and a cruise ship terminal -- are supposed to start housing patients as New York state races to roughly triple its hospital capacity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.