$17M emergency medical shelter shutting down at NRG Park

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, right, tours a medical facility that was set up to handle a possible overflow of COVID-19 patients from local hospitals, Saturday, April 11, 2020, at NRG Park in Houston. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, right, tours a medical facility that was set up to handle a possible overflow of COVID-19 patients from local hospitals, Saturday, April 11, 2020, at NRG Park in Houston. Photo: Jon Shapley, Staff Photographer / Staff Photographer Photo: Jon Shapley, Staff Photographer / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 104 Caption Close $17M emergency medical shelter shutting down at NRG Park 1 / 104 Back to Gallery

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced Friday that the $17 million emergency medical shelter at NRG Park will "demobilize" after determining that the county will not need the facility to care for COVID-19 patients at this point.

The makeshift shelter was constructed earlier this month outside of NRG stadium. The county spent $17 million to build the shelter, in the event that extra hospital beds were needed during the pandemic. Hidalgo said FEMA is slated to reimburse 75% of the cost.

Harris County Judge @LinaHidalgoTX said Friday she will close the pop-up medical shelter erected earlier this month outside NRG Stadium, a venture that cost millions of dollars and was set up in case COVID-19 cases surged past existing hospital capacity.https://t.co/paSqGruYz5 — Dylan McGuinness (@dylmcguinness) April 24, 2020

"This is not a mission accomplished moment," Hidalgo said at a Friday press conference. "We're still very much in the fight."

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Hidalgo added that at the time that the emergency shelter was constructed, she felt it necessary to take steps to save lives.

"We were watching our hospital admissions rates climb exponentially, at some point tripling every seven days in a way that would put us in an untenable position."

The shelter was initially set up as a "last resort" to care for 250 patients.

"Right now, we will no longer need this specific facility, not because we don't need surge capacity. We could still surge. We have no vaccine," Hidalgo said.

The construction of the emergency shelter was originally earmarked and approved for $60 million by County Commissioner's Court. The facility was meant to serve as a overflow site for hospitals who could have been at capacity with COVID-19 patients.





alison.medley@chron.com