Cranston Coronavirus Field Hospital Accepts First Patients

CRANSTON, RI — Rhode Island's two coronavirus field hospitals are officially operational, and will begin accepting patients Monday. As many as 10 patients are expected to arrive at the Cranston facility in the first day of operation, according to a spokesperson from Care New England.

Jessica McCarthy, a spokesperson for Care New England, said late Monday morning that staff were running final drills in preparation for the patients' arrival, who were expected to arrive later in the afternoon. Between five and 10 patients are expected to arrive at the Cranston field hospital on Monday, coming from Kent Hospital in Warwick.

"This location will ideally be used as a lower acuity site for patients who have graduated from hospital level care but are not yet able to head home," McCarthy explained in a statement.

Related: 'For 2 Weeks, Lock It Down': RI's Pause Starts Nov. 30

Last Wednesday, Gov. Gina Raimondo announced that existing hospitals in Rhode Island officially reached their coronavirus capacity, and that the two field hospitals — one in Cranston and the other at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence — would begin accepting patients as soon as the week after Thanksgiving.

Monday also marked the beginning of Rhode Island's two-week pause, which will shutter or limit large swaths of the economy in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the state and lessen the strain on the health care system. During that time, the social gathering limit is limited to just members of single households, and the governor pleaded with all residents to stay home as much as possible.

"The only option we have right now is to take this pause seriously," Raimondo said last week. "[For] two weeks, lock it down."

If Rhode Islanders do not take the pause seriously, hospitals will become overrrun by the end of the year, Raimondo said, and will have to turn away patients for non-emergency treatments such as routine surgeries or cancer treatments.

"We will lose more Rhode Islanders to other disease," she said.

Coronavirus in Rhode Island: Read more

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