OPINION | How the Coronavirus is Changing Everything
To the Editor:
Now that sporting events have been canceled or postponed, there’s an opportunity to set up field hospitals in Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden and other such venues. Predictions from the C.D.C. and others indicate that the COVID-19 virus will infect a significant percentage of the population. It has been proven in South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong that early isolation of infected individuals can reduce spread of the virus and decrease mortality.
Our hospitals may be overwhelmed if the numbers are as large as some experts predict. Keeping the infected less sick patients out of the hospitals and isolated for a period of time in temporary field hospitals saves space for critically ill patients in the regular hospitals and decreases risk of exposure to staff and patients.
Andrew R. Marks
New York
The writer, a doctor, is chairman of the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
