The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Shuttered reform school eyed as medical overflow facility
HARRISBURG » A shuttered reform school for boys in suburban Philadelphia may be used as a medical overflow facility as coronavirus cases increase and hospitals are pressed for space as the state confirms big jumps in new cases and deaths daily.
The Glen Mills School has medical and dental facilities, an air field, a generator and a more than 85,000 square-foot athletic facility that could host patients from hospitals and other health care facilities.
Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a package of coronavirus-related legislation that passed the Legislature earlier this week. There are more than 530 new confirmed cases, a 30% jump to more than 2,200, and six more deaths for a total of 22.
A look at coronavirusrelated developments in Pennsylvania: CASES
More counties, 50 of the state’s 67 counties, are seeing their first coronavirus cases.
Wolf has issued a stay-athome order to 10 counties, including Philadelphia and Allegheny County. Those counties have about 80% of the total cases.
For most people, the 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, or death. HOSPITAL SPACE Wolf’s administration has stressed the need for hospitals to ramp up equipment, staffing and bed space to handle the expected surge in coronavirus patients in the coming weeks. Among the facilities being considered are hotels and outpatient surgical facilities, Health Secretary Rachel Levine has said.
Christopher Spriggs, the acting executive director of the Glen Mills School, said he offered the space a few weeks ago.
Tim Boyce, executive director of Delaware County’s Emergency Management Agency, told WPVITV in Philadelphia that he hopes the former Glen Mills School can be used to handle the surge and the dayto-day overflow of hospitals and nursing facilities.
He said it will start with 250 beds, but could be expanded.
The school was a reform school and juvenile detention facility serving about 200 boys, but Wolf’s administration revoked the school’s licenses and ordered its students removed after The Philadelphia Inquirer detailed decades of alleged abuse and coverups at the 193-year-old campus.
Wolf’s administration said Friday that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, along with federal and local government agencies, is assessing a number of sites across the state to become housing or medical facilities. No plans or agreements have been finalized, according to the administration.