SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- Leaders with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department and area hospitals are discussing funding to establish an Alternate Care Site for COVID-19 patients.
According to a press release from the Health Department, the care center comes in response to the growing needs for more acute care in Greene County due to COVID-19.
The Health Department and the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management submitted a request for a care site to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
According to the Health Department, there are 231 patients being treated in Greene County hospitals with COVID-19, 104 of those are in critical care and 61 are on ventilators. The Health Department also says Greene County is averaging more than 196 cases per day, and the increase in severe illness is projected to outpace hospital capacity.
Officials are currently working on where the facility will be located. The care site would provide staffing for transitional care for COVID-19 patients.
The facility would also:
- Provide funding for staffing of additional beds for COVID patients in area hospitals
- Increase the capacity for antibody treatment
- Create a centralized location for patients awaiting long-term care placement
- Offer shelter for unsheltered individuals who are COVID-19 positive
- Expand mobile testing staff
- Issue an emergency declaration to fund ambulance support for transfers
- Extend state waivers for hospital capacity and use.
You can watch the live at 3 p.m. briefing above.
