Colorado Convention Center Repurposed Into 2,000-Bed Field Hospital For Homeless Coronavirus Patients

Mayor Michael Hancock sent an open letter to Denver’s hotels and motels, saying that the Colorado Convention Center will become a 2,000-bed field hospital. It will house COVID-19 patients starting this month, the mayor added in the letter.

The reason why he sent the letter, Fox News reported, was to request for 3,300 hotel rooms. This will then “meet the anticipated need” to accommodate homeless people who are infected with the coronavirus. It will also be of additional use since hospitals are starting to get crowded with patients.

There are already 120 motel rooms the city government had leased for the use of the homeless who have tested positive for the virus or are awaiting their test results. The mayor added that he is currently imploring hotels and motels to consider his request. He added that this would be good since the quarantine could have left their properties “underutilized at best” or even empty in a worst-case scenario.

In his letter, Hancock said that he appealed to the city’s top hotel industry leaders. He said that the city’s staff has been instructed to pick the most efficient path possible in overcoming any barriers in making use of the hotels to house the COVID-19-infected homeless that really need them.

There are events planned before the quarantine that is now obviously canceled. One of these, according to Denver Post, is the Denver Pop Culture Con. The quarterly event has been postponed up until November due to the repurposing of the Convention Center.

The Pop Culture Classroom, an educational nonprofit organization that holds the event, released the decision Monday. The yearly pop convention draws at least a crowd of 100,000; a crowd of that size, especially at this time of COVID-19, would be a nightmare. The event usually has celebrity autograph signings, cosplay and artists selling their creations.

The event was originally scheduled for July 3 to 5 but was pushed back, tentatively, on Nov. 27 to 29. It might even be postponed further in the event that the Colorado Convention Center is used for the continuous treatment of coronavirus patients, according to the organization.