Colorado Convention Center in Denver may be used as temporary medical facility
Colorado officials are targeting April 18 to begin using the Colorado Convention Center in Denver as a temporary medical facility with up to 2,000 beds, according to internal city documents obtained by The Denver Post.
The convention center has been on the short list of possible makeshift hospital locations as the number of coronavirus cases in Colorado
has grown exponentially.
“Preparation continues related to standing up an alternative care facility at the Colorado Convention Center of between 1,000 and 2,000 beds,” the report says.
First, city officials needed a letter of intent from the state before cementing the facility, which came Saturday, allowing for Colorado to lease the building with provisions for up to 2,000 patients at a cost of $30 per patient per day.
As the conversations continued, the number of available hospital beds and ventilators fluctuated in Denver, though they largely trended downward.
Eighty-five of 372 intensive care beds were available in Denver hospitals, according to the city’s status report Saturday. Of 629 acute care beds in the city, 458 were available then, and 256 ventilators were available out of 366 in the city.
Once the agreement with the state is finalized, an additional two weeks is needed to finish preparing the center, the documents say.
As of Saturday, the plan was for the center to open by April 18, but the status reports note that the date is not certain.
State officials also intend to lease the Larimer County Event Complex in Loveland, state documents show.