TCF Center is being transformed into 1,000-bed field hospital: Take a look inside

The metal and plastic partitions are going up to create 1,000 rooms.

A couple of miles of electrical wiring is being laid on the floor.

Hospital beds are on the way.

By the end of the week, TCF Center in Detroit will start to look like a field hospital that could hold up to 1,000 people who have tested positive for coronavirus.

The work began Tuesday to transform the center into a hospital that will help ease the overcrowding at hospitals in southeast Michigan that are being flooded with coronavirus patients. It will be the largest alternate health care facility in Michigan.

It's not clear, though, when the first patients will come or which hospitals will transfer patients there.

The TCF crews that regularly convert the hulking halls of the convention center into boat and car shows have taken on the herculean task of turning it into a health care facility. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Detroit District is running the show and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying for the project.

There will be 600 beds in Hall C on the main floor of the convention center for more seriously ill coronavirus patients, but not sick enough to need a ventilator. Another 400 beds are being installed in Hall E on the lower level of TCF for patients who are over the worst of their COVID-19 illness and are considered recovering.

For every 25 patients, a nursing station will be set up for health care workers to care for the virus-stricken patients.

More: University of Michigan looking to convert indoor track into hospital space during coronavirus

More: As coronavirus cases rise, here are the challenges Michigan faces in setting up field hospitals

It’s a monumental task that includes bringing in access to oxygen for the patients, providing negative air pressure for the massive halls that's needed to prevent cross contamination between the hundreds of rooms, installing more bathrooms and showers and making space for the unfortunate reality that some of the people housed in the hospital won’t make it.

“The best scenario here is that this is all 100% overkill, but it isn't because, unfortunately, we already are noticing what’s happening out there,” said Gary Brown, of the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority. “But hopefully, we'll never even come close to filling this facility.”

The Army Corps of Engineers is preparing for the worst, however, and already has experience in building out the Javits Center in New York and McCormick Place in Chicago for coronavirus patients, in addition to working at sites where natural disasters have hit.

Mike Allis, the project manager for the TCF build-out, worked in the recovery efforts after hurricanes devastated Puerto Rico a few years ago.

“This is my second emergency response,” Allis said, noting working with the necessary social distancing has been challenging in this crisis. “The difficult part of this is it's easy to get absorbed into the work and try to do the work as late as you can and then go home to my family here and that's been the hardest part. But it’s the same level of urgency here.”

That sense of urgency is pushing the Corps and TCF staff to get the work done this week.

“We'll keep trying to push and make sure we can facilitate that to move to a sooner date if we can,” Allis said. “And make sure it's up to the standards that we need to meet.”

The state is still looking at other sites for possible field hospitals to house and treat coronavirus patients. in Grand Rapids, for example, Grand Valley State University has a long-standing agreement with Spectrum Health and is converting a health care classroom building, across the street from Spectrum Hospital, into a field hospital with 250 beds.

The University of Michigan is turning an indoor track into a field hospital that could fit up to 500 beds.

Meanwhile, hospitals across southeast Michigan, including Beaumont and Henry Ford, have reached capacity and are treating hundreds of coronavirus patients. And the number has been rising precipitously in recent days and, as of Tuesday afternoon, 7,615 positive cases and 259 deaths have been reported by the state.

The next big challenge for the field hospitals will be staffing them, as health care workers, especially in southeast Michigan, are stretched thin.

For more information on the coronavirus in Michigan and how to help, go to www.michigan.gov/coronavirus.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.