SOF PREDICTION and OPINION: As the world goes completely unhinged and leaders control minds and virtual locations of constituencies, DOD is preparing for one of its biggest national challenges. Ratings of leaders in the Western world are up, and will go higher when the real statistics, most likely not as alarming as the worst case scenarios, pile in and leaders declare “Victory”. 

To the Col Blimps: This virus began to spread in America in January, and gave plenty of notice without alarming deaths. Next time, how about having sufficient medical supplies in place and pump the media with real facts rather than lots of unknown facts and worst case scenarios by “Medical Experts” making guesses before declaring national emergencies and unleashing chaos? Just a thought in what we consider a very disturbing program of mind control and fear mongering which will result in collateral damages unknown. If we are proven wrong, we may be dead, but don’t count on it. 

By Thomas Brading Army

Army leaders announced plans to quickly convert unused buildings into makeshift hospitals in multiple states, starting in New York, as hospitals brace for medical shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week, construction is set to kick off as the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan will be refitted into a 1,000-bed hospital and an additional 1,800 field medical stations, officials said. Soldiers from the New York National Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and civilian employees will prepare the medical facility, slated to begin operating in a week to 10 days.

The race against the virus is “an unbelievably complicated problem” that needs a simple solution, said Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, commanding general of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

This solution, he said, begins with state governors.

Local leaders will pinpoint available buildings, like hotels, dormitories, and convention centers, in a prioritized order. Once identified, the existing buildings will be leased by the state and handed over to USACE. The corps will take over and hire contractors “in an exceptionally short amount of days,” Semonite explained at a Pentagon press briefing March 20.

The facilities will need negative pressure abilities to keep the virus sealed off from room-to-room, and be outfitted with the appropriate medical supplies based off a list provided by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said.

Finally, each facility will be staffed with medical professionals hired by the state, Semonite explained.

NEW YORK BECOMES ‘STANDARD-SETTER’ FOR USACE

“The Empire State” has become the epicenter for the airborne virus in the United States, as confirmed cases topped 30,000 Wednesday, officials said. This is a sharp rise from 4,812 cases Sunday, and more than 5% of the world’s confirmed cases. The state will receive 10,000 temporary rooms over the next few weeks.

New York will become “the standard-setter,” Semonite said, for how USACE will respond.

“Most of the governors are saying their peak [confirmed cases are] somewhere projected around the middle of April. This is not ‘take all the time in the world’ to do it,” Semonite said, adding USACE must provide a solution before the peak numbers are reached.

Last week, USACE leaders walked through several potential New York buildings, including the Javits Center in Manhattan and State University of New York school buildings, Semonite said, adding his engineers would walk through 10 other buildings in New York.

USACE has produced a “standard design” to retrofit medical facilities, Semonite said. He showed a pamphlet of the design, and said it was already sent to White House officials, and approved by both HHS and FEMA.

Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, the Army is trying to understand the capabilities of every state, while focusing on hotspots like New York, California, and New Jersey.

“We can’t go everywhere, so we are really asking for the federal government to be able to help prioritize our efforts with FEMA, to be able to send us to the right place,” Semonite said. “This has to be weeks; this can’t be months.”

Meanwhile:

Army engineers now eyeing 100-plus sites for COVID-19 response

By Sean Kimmons, 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has identified over 110 sites across the country it could retrofit to help local hospitals deal with patient overflow amid the COVID-19 outbreak, its commander said Friday.

Army engineers have already assessed the majority of the 114 facilities — a total number that will steadily increase as the virus spreads nationwide.

“We want to be able to tailor a solution that works best for a given city or a given state,” Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite said during a Pentagon press briefing.

Convention center model

In New York, Army engineers are planning to help build nearly 3,000 rooms for non-COVID-19 patients by Monday inside the Javits Conference Center in Manhattan.

While the center was to hold initially 1,000 patients, Army engineers, along with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Health and Human Services, were able to maximize the center’s capacity to expand the mission, he said.

Unlike constructing a makeshift hospital on a parking lot, the general said a convention center is a permanent facility that already has electricity, water, fire protection, driveways, partitions, and other features available.

A facility like this also does not require as many contractors to install those features. It can even keep current employees at the center employed during this uncertain time.

“The convention center model is a pretty good model,” he said. “We can probably get a little bit more bang for the buck by going into the larger facilities.”

He plans to replicate it in other parts of the country, and even retrofit centers to handle patients with COVID-19. A major challenge in such a large building, though, is developing negative-pressure rooms to seal off the virus from other parts of it.

In Chicago, for instance, Army engineers have started to work with their partners to place about 3,000 rooms inside the McCormick Place Convention Center for patients with the virus.

The $75 million project will include self-contained halls that separate patients by the severity of their symptoms. The project is slated to be completed by April 24.

“I did not think we could meet the COVID standard in a massive building, but my engineers are telling me we think we’ve got the capability to do that,” Semonite said.

Since patients will be in open areas inside each hall, medical personnel will be required to wear 100% of personal protective equipment, he added.

Other hotspots

Army engineers have also targeted other hotspots, such as locations on the West Coast.

In Washington, engineers are in talks to secure a large facility in Seattle after the Army ordered the 627th Army Hospital from Fort Carson, Colorado, to deploy there.

In California, the general said they are looking to build nearly 400 rooms in a large facility to possibly handle a mix of non-COVID patients and those with the virus.

Throughout the country, engineers are working with state and city officials to develop the best solution for them as they prepare for a potential uptick in cases.

“We have a very, very narrow window of opportunity,” he said. “If we don’t leverage that opportunity, we’re going to miss it.”

Other solutions may involve repurposing vacant hotels and dormitories.

“It’s not just the big cities. The small cities are going to have the same exact problem. It’s just scale,” he said. “It goes back to what is that individual requirement and how do we continue to support them?”

Last week, the general said that USACE had developed a standard design to retrofit facilities into alternate care sites that alleviate bed shortages at nearby hospitals.

“This is when everybody is at max capacity,” he said. “We’re trying to come in to be able to make sure we build that augmentation capacity to take the stress off.”