Name: TCF Center Field Hospital in Detroit 'officially closed,' Mayor Duggan says
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TCF Center Field Hospital in Detroit 'officially closed,' Mayor Duggan says

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Detroit Free Press Detroit's downtown&nbsp;TCF Center field hospital, built to handle 1,000 coronavirus patients, "officially closed down" Thursday after the last patient was discharged."April 1, I&nbsp;said to the people of this city, 'Your&nbsp;report card is going to sit right down the street at the TCF Center,'" Mayor Mike Duggan said Thursday during his daily briefing. "And we got our report card today, and it was remarkable."On April 1, the number of COVID-19 cases in Detroit was soaring, prompting&nbsp;state officials to&nbsp;announce&nbsp;that they&nbsp;would convert the downtown convention center into a field hospital, with the help of the U.S.&nbsp;Army Corps of Engineers.On April 10, the cavernous building formerly known as&nbsp;Cobo that stretches along the Detroit River&nbsp;opened as a field hospital. Rows of beds lined Hall C, which in better times is used for the&nbsp;North American International Auto Show."It was a very reasonable conclusion&nbsp;that we were going to need a thousand&nbsp;more hospital beds than our hospitals could handle," Duggan said Thursday.But the hospital never had more than&nbsp;20 patients at one time.As the number of coronavirus deaths began falling in Detroit&nbsp;— from a peak of 276 in a seven-day period in April to 55 in the most recent seven-day period&nbsp;— the mayor was almost giddy at the portion of his daily briefings where&nbsp;he&nbsp;noted the small number of patients at the field hospital.Duggan called the field hospital's closure&nbsp;a cause for&nbsp;celebration. And he gave credit to&nbsp;Detroiters for the steep decline in the number of&nbsp;COVID-19 deaths in the city."They have dropped steadily because the people of this city did something remarkable in really committing to the social distancing standards," he said.&nbsp;Dr. David Strong, chief medical officer at the field hospital,&nbsp;agreed."The fact that we didn't need to use it to the extent that we planned for is really a testament to the will&nbsp;and commitment of the local citizens to following the 'Stay Home, Stay Safe'&nbsp;orders," he said.Strong will return to work at the Henry Ford Health System, where he is a&nbsp;specialist in emergency medicine.The auto show, traditionally a winter event, was scheduled to move to June&nbsp;for the first time. The .And even though the field hospital is closed, it is not going away — as a&nbsp;contingency and reminder that the coronavirus crisis is far from over."A&nbsp;large number of the beds are going to stay there on reserve," Duggan said. "Right now, things are going our way, but if we decided to abandon with the warm weather the social distancing we'll need those beds over at the TCF Center again. And I'm hoping that they're going to stay there empty. But we need to be careful."Michelle Grinnell, a state spokeswoman, said used N95 respirators will still be decontaminated at the TCF Center, adding:&nbsp;"So this really is a pause versus shutting down, with TCF Regional Care Center standing ready to receive patients again if the need arises throughout the state."Grinnell said a second, smaller field hospital at the&nbsp;Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi will continue to accept COVID-19 patients from&nbsp;nearby&nbsp;hospital systems.Suburban Collection Showplace Regional Care Center has&nbsp;five patients. Eight people have been admitted since it opened last month.

Detroit Free Press Detroit's downtown&nbsp;TCF Center field hospital, built to handle 1,000 coronavirus patients, "officially closed down" Thursday after the last patient was discharged."April 1, I&nbsp;said to the people of this city, 'Your&nbsp;report card is going to sit right down the street at the TCF Center,'" Mayor Mike Duggan said Thursday during his daily briefing. "And we got our report card today, and it was remarkable."On April 1, the number of COVID-19 cases in Detroit was soaring, prompting&nbsp;state officials to&nbsp;announce&nbsp;that they&nbsp;would convert the downtown...

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The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primarily serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, and Monroe counties.  The Free Press is also the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today. The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 189 Years".

TCF Center Field Hospital in Detroit 'officially closed,' Mayor Duggan says

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