Atrium, Novant: Field hospital not needed for now, but ‘trend could reverse quickly’

Novant Health and Atrium Health are dropping a request — for now — for a 600-bed field hospital intended to help manage a surge of coronavirus cases in Mecklenburg County.

Hospital leaders told County Manager Dena Diorio in a letter Wednesday they believe the two systems have enough capacity to manage future needs, based on the recent pace of new cases.

“We are seeing a flattening of the curve, resulting in a continued decline in peak hospital census projections. Instead of positive cases doubling every 2.85 days, as they were previously, the current trajectory is showing positive cases now doubling every 6 days,” Atrium and Novant CEOs wrote Wednesday.

Both hospital systems have managed to increase capacity within their existing facilities, Atrium Health CEO Eugene Woods and Novant Health CEO Carl Armato wrote.

The letter is a dramatic shift from Tuesday, when Diorio had informed Mecklenburg County commissioners that the Charlotte Convention Center would be the “preferred” site of a field hospital.

“As a result of our combined efforts, we believe we are now in a position to meet the 600 medical beds needed that were previously requested in a field hospital, assuming the effects of social distancing trends continue the current trajectory,” Woods and Armato said.

But they said the Charlotte Convention Center — a key venue for the Republican National Convention this August — should still be considered as a “viable option” in the future, depending on the trajectory of the local COVID-19 outbreak.

Diorio said Tuesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would pay for construction of the field hospital if it’s needed, with Atrium and Novant covering any other funding. The hospital systems would be able to apply for federal and state reimbursement, Diorio said.

Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Tuesday that cases will peak in June, not the end of April or mid-May as previously expected.

Harris told commissioners Tuesday that the county has seen roughly 40% to 50% social distancing.

And she warned that if the stay-at-home order is lifted by the end of April, there would be a significant spike in COVID-19 cases — and the hospitals would have a “hard time dealing” with the surge.

Officials said Wednesday 19 county residents have died of COVID-19 and at least 1,039 people have tested positive for the coronavirus.

“It is important to note this trend could reverse quickly if social distancing is eased prematurely without supporting data. Recognizing the dynamic nature of this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, we must stay committed to ongoing, prudent assessment of the situation and remain ready to adjust as needed,” Woods and Armato wrote.

A dramatic change

Earlier this month, the hospital systems had asked the county to erect a 3,000-bed field hospital at UNC Charlotte to accommodate a surge in severe coronavirus cases.

The university announced April 2 that it had cleared six dorms in its South Village for the COVID-19 response.

The 3,000-bed field hospital would have been the largest in the country at the time it was announced, surpassing the 2,500-bed emergency treatment facility set up in New York City, the Observer reported.

In a joint letter to county manager Diorio April 2, Woods and Armato said the hospital systems expected to see a surge in patients between mid-April and mid-May.

“As seen in other cities across the nation, such a surge can quickly overwhelm hospitals, and a field hospital can act as an important relief valve,” the Atrium and Novant CEOs wrote at the time. “Therefore, the time to act is now to implement solutions needed to adequately care for our patients and community.”

But Atrium and Novant drastically scaled back their surge request days later — after Mecklenburg learned that FEMA would not provide up-front funding for the makeshift hospital. The abandoned plan would have cost $70 million, the Observer reported.

Diorio told county commissioners on April 7 the change in the request was partly due to successful ongoing social distancing efforts.

She said the change in requested beds would rely heavily on extreme social-distancing efforts.

“The need for 600 beds as opposed to 3,000 beds assumes that the stay-at-home order remain in place, that it is aggressively enforced, and that it is not lifted prematurely,” Diorio said April 7.

Diorio first told county commissioners the federal government would cover construction costs and the county would cover additional costs. She said any county funds used on the field hospital would be eligible for federal reimbursement.

But Tuesday, Diorio told commissioners local funding was never intended to cover the potential field hospital costs. Instead, Atrium and Novant would be expected to front any cost.

This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 2:19 PM.