Georgia, Piedmont cut deal to expand hospital beds

State contract to add up to 100 more beds in Atlanta.

Georgia health officials signed a contract with Piedmont Healthcare to expand the state’s hospital bed capacity as the number of coronavirus cases in the state soars.

Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said the contract will add at least 62 beds in the main building at the hospital’s Midtown Atlanta campus and, potentially, an additional 40 or so beds in the new Marcus Tower that opened four months ahead of schedule.

“We worked months ago with them to speed up some of the permitting and other things that they were doing to try and finish the towers quickly when we had the first big wave of hospitalizations in the state,” Kemp told Channel 2 Action News.

“We have worked with Piedmont to make those beds available to really anyone who needs them working with the other systems here in the metro Atlanta area,” Kemp said.

More details weren’t immediately available.

The negotiations with Piedmont, reported last week, coincided with a broader state effort to expand hospital bed capacity amid a sharp increase in new daily coronavirus cases that’s straining the state’s health infrastructure. Some state health districts report just a handful of available hospital beds.

Kemp said last week that the temporary hospital at the Georgia World Congress Center, which opened in April and shuttered a month later, will soon be reactivated to relieve health care systems struggling with rising numbers of coronavirus patients.

His office said that mobile hospital units in Albany, Gainesville, Macon and Rome will remain in place, and that the state also plans to pay for additional medical staffers at dozens of health care and long-term care facilities throughout the state.

Kemp is set to issue a new round of coronavirus rules Wednesday that extend limits on restaurants and other businesses.

He also indicated that he would continue to encourage — but not mandate — the use of masks even as a growing number of cities pass local ordinances to require them.

“Obviously, we won’t be opening up or moving forward in any way,” the governor said. “We’ve got to learn to deal with it,” Kemp added, “and we’re encouraging people to wear masks and follow the guidance that we have.”