WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - A field hospital inside the DCU Center in Worcester will begin taking patients this weekend as new COVID-19 hospitalizations in Massachusetts continue to climb at a concerning rate, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Thursday.
RELATED: Baker says second field hospital going up in Lowell amid COVID-19 surge
The 240-bed hospital will open its doors on Sunday in an effort to help fight off the second surge of coronavirus. UMass Memorial Health Care workers will staff the 24/7 facility.
The facility will have “a lot more capacity” than it did when it was active in the spring, Baker said during a news conference following a tour of the hospital.
This comes after the Massachusetts Nurses Association said their members are still exhausted and traumatized from the first surge.
“Field hospitals play a critical role in our preparedness strategy that helps us alleviate pressure on the health care system generally and enables hospitals to focus on non-COVID patients,” Baker said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said the field hospital is looking to hire advanced practitioners, certified nurse assistants, medical interpreters, observation assistants, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physicians, registered nurses, registration representatives, respiratory therapists, radiology technologists, and social workers.
Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have been growing at a rate of 2-3 percent each day for the past couple of weeks, Baker noted.
On Wednesday, state health officials reported 1,259 hospitalizations, including 264 COVID patients in the ICU, in addition to more than 4,600 new cases, 46 deaths, and a 4.94 percent seven-day positivity rate.
Baker also said that a second field hospital will be built in Lowell in the coming weeks.
Health data released the week also indicated that 73 percent of the 11,000 non-ICU beds in Massachusetts hospitals were occupied and 56 percent of the 1,800 ICU beds were full.
The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the United States as of Wednesday — 100,226, according to the COVID Tracking Project — is a record for the pandemic.
Despite the recent surge in cases, Baker said earlier this week that the state is not planning to roll out any additional closures or restrictions at this time.
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