SACRAMENTO, Calif — California is beginning the process of closing down surge hospitals after health officials said that the state has successfully flattened the curve of rising coronavirus cases.
Officials with the California Office of Emergency Services said that two hospitals are scheduled to close in June, while other facilities would have a "warm shutdown," which means that those hospitals would be available just in case if there is another wave of a coronavirus outbreak or another emergency.
"Maintaining the use of these facilities going forward will provide us critical flexibility to safeguard the health and safety of Californians as we begin to reopen the state," Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci said in a news release.
The Sleep Train Arena, the former home of the Sacramento Kings, at the end of May will have a "warm shutdown" of the facility's 400 beds that were set up for potential COVID-19 patients in case there was a surge of cases.
Meanwhile, the practice facility will continue to operate as it has through at least the end of June.
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The LA Convention Center and the Palomar Medical Center would still be maintained as they are placed in a warm shutdown.
The USNS Mercy Hospital Ship operated as an alternate care site for the Los Angeles area. The ship left the Port of Los Angeles on May 15 so that it could return back to San Diego, but Navy medical personnel stayed behind to help respond to the pandemic.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said in a news release that the state was able to flatten the curve because Californians followed the stay at home orders.
"This is why the stay-at-home order was issued, to save lives and to give the healthcare delivery system time to prepare," Ghaly said.
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