SEATTLE, Wash. – Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says the military field hospital at CenturyLink Field Event Center will be dissembled and returned to FEMA so it can be deployed to another state.
Gov. Inslee says the decision was made after consulting with local, state and federal leaders, and will allow the field hospital to be deployed to a state facing a more significant need.
“Don’t let this decision give you the impression that we are out of the woods. We have to keep our guard up and continue to stay home unless conducting essential activities to keep everyone healthy,” Inslee said. “We requested this resource before our physical distancing strategies were fully implemented and we had considerable concerns that our hospitals would be overloaded with COVID-19 cases. But we haven’t beat this virus yet, and until we do, it has the potential to spread rapidly if we don’t continue the measures we’ve put in place.”
Inslee says while the field hospital is being returned, resources continue to be bolstered through Washington’s hospital and medical systems. 1,000 hospital beds and over 900 ventilators have been purchased by the state to support hospitals in the event the state experiences another surge in COVID-19 cases.
The state has also finalized a lease to use the Astria Regional Medical Center in Yakima, capable of supporting an additional 250 non-COVID patients if needed.
“Our community mitigation measures, combined with the amazing work of our hospitals and health care providers throughout the region, as well as our procurement of various hospital supplies, lends us to believe that at this point, our hospitals should have enough capacity to support a surge in patients,” Inslee added. “With that said, I’m incredibly appreciative of the men and women from the 627th Hospital Center out of Fort Carson in Colorado. These soldiers uprooted their lives to help Washingtonians when we needed them most. Since then, it’s become apparent that other states need them more than we do. It’s only right that we release this capability so those states have the tools necessary to help end this nation-wide fight that we are all battling together.”
