Huntington Hospital will be able to use the 97,000-square-foot Pasadena Convention Center to house coronavirus patients should the hospital itself run out of room caring for COVID-19 patients from across the San Gabriel Valley.

The number of patients infected with the coronavrius, which leads to the sometimes fatal respiratory disease, is expected to surge in the Southland the next two weeks.

On Monday afternoon, the Pasadena City Council unanimously approved a $700,000 agreement to fund the setup and maintenance of the makeshift medical facility for two to three months, which would be staffed by Huntington Hospital employees.

Looking at several predictive models for the spread of the virus, Huntington Hospital Chief Executive Lori Morgan said she is about 400 beds shy of what could be needed in the coming weeks — and that’s according to the conservative estimates.

With some models, the number of beds required “goes much higher than that,” Morgan said.

Earlier in the day, Los Angeles County health officials warned cases could rise dramatically over the next two weeks and urged residents to stay at home and avoid even doing essential business, such as grocery shopping or pharmacy visits, as much as possible.

Huntington Hospital has already increased its capacity by about 40%, Morgan said, bringing the total number of beds to 600. More than half is empty right now, but predictive models reviewed by the hospital show between 980 and 1,200 beds may be needed if cases surge across the San Gabriel Valley.

“I think 1,000 (beds) is a reasonable place to start,” Morgan told the council. “Certainly, if things continue to expand, then we’re going to put our heads together, and we’re going to have to figure it out.”

To get started, the city is poised to contract with Burbank-based Redrock Entertainment, known for organizing music festival sites and other large event spaces with significant logistical challenges.

It’ll cost about $250,000 for the setup, plus a month of maintenance for the facility, according to a staff report. Subsequent months will cost about $180,000. The money will come out of the city’s rainy-day reserve fund.

Initially, only 250 beds will be installed in the facility — that’s 150 beds short of what Huntington Hospital expects to need — but there’s enough funding set aside for city officials to add the rest of the beds if necessary, City Manager Steve Mermell told the council.

If the need does arise, patients who require ventilators or significant care would still be housed at the hospital. Anyone with a case requiring less medical intervention — which could mean the case is fatal and medical professionals can’t help, or it could mean a very mild case, but little in between — those would end up at the Convention Center.

City and hospital officials hope the facility isn’t needed.

“It’s an insurance policy,” Mermell said. “Hopefully it doesn’t need to get exercised.”

While Mermell believes this project will likely be reimbursed by the federal government, there’s no guarantee it will be. Still, the city will apply for federal assistance.

As of Monday, Pasadena announced 14 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the city’s total to 72. There were no new deaths following the city’s first two fatal cases announced on Friday.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The caption on the photo used in this story has been corrected.