Edison Convention Center Chosen As Coronavirus 'Pop-Up' Hospital

EDISON, NJ — The state of New Jersey is opening four "pop-up" hospitals to accommodate the expected influx of coronavirus cases — and one of them will be located at the Edison Convention Center.

New Jersey knew the pop-up hospitals were coming, but until Tuesday, their locations had not been made available to the public. The sites were announced in a press conference led by Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey State Police Colonel Patrick Callahan.

Projection studies show that existing hospitals do not have enough beds to hold the expected influx of cases.

An opening date for all four has not been released.

"One is going to be at the Meadowlands Exposition Center, another is going to be at the Convention Center in Edison, the third one will be set up in Atlantic City's Convention Center," said Callahan.

The location for the fourth one will be determined at a later time, he said, "once we are able to analyze the best and most effective place to set that up."

The hospitals will be constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers and each is expected to have up to 250 beds. It will be fully staffed by doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

"We know what supplies need, we've have identified the number of staff, the number of RNs, number of pharmacists," said Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, noting that New Jersey will be divided into three regions: North, Central and South.

The Edison Expo Center will handle the expected Central Jersey caseload.

Persichilli said they've invited level-1 trauma centers to be coordinating agencies.

In New York, the Jacob Javits Convention Center, SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Old Westbury and the Westchester Convention Center were identified as locations for their makeshift hospitals. New York and New Jersey have experienced many more coronavirus cases than the rest of the nation.

Murphy noted the speed that these facilities were being setup is unprecedented.

With reporting by Russ Crespolini/Morristown Patch