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usaf-vet

(6,094 posts)
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 12:07 PM Feb 2020

Built in 10 days, China's virus hospital takes 1st patients

Source: AP

BEIJING (AP) — The first patients arrived Monday at a 1,000-bed hospital built in 10 days as part of China’s sweeping efforts to fight a new virus that is causing global alarm.

Huoshenshan Hospital and a second 1,500-bed facility due to open this week were built by construction crews who are working around the clock in Wuhan, the central city where the outbreak was first detected in December. Some 50 million people are barred from leaving Wuhan and surrounding cities.

The Wuhan treatment centers mark the second time Chinese leaders have responded to a new disease by building specialized hospitals almost overnight. As severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, spread in 2003, a facility in Beijing for patients with that viral disease was constructed in a week.

The first patients arrived at Huoshenshan Hospital at 10 a.m. on Monday, according to state media. They gave no details of the patients’ identities or conditions.

Read more: https://apnews.com/8e978ecbb3b1dd125221b627d35e8edc

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Built in 10 days, China's virus hospital takes 1st patients (Original Post) usaf-vet Feb 2020 OP
I know the comparisons aren't fair matt819 Feb 2020 #1
Our "President" brags all the time about how great he is at building shit. lagomorph777 Feb 2020 #3
EXACTLY! usaf-vet Feb 2020 #8
No OneCrazyDiamond Feb 2020 #5
All though not nearly comparable to this 1500 bed hospital. The US military used to have mobile... usaf-vet Feb 2020 #7
I work for an architecture firm and we build hospitals. yes we build these now... Javaman Feb 2020 #13
How well do you really think this is built? NYC Liberal Feb 2020 #20
I think they are more of a barracks to isolate sick people than what we patricia92243 Feb 2020 #2
My thought too. lagomorph777 Feb 2020 #4
Okay matt819 Feb 2020 #6
sorry - I did not mean my post as a critisim. I think it just explains patricia92243 Feb 2020 #9
that's exactly what this is. a giant warehouse for sick people... Javaman Feb 2020 #14
Pics during construction (AP) dalton99a Feb 2020 #10
From the hallway it looks a lot like a jail. nt crickets Feb 2020 #18
this is similar to the SARS catsudon Feb 2020 #19
I was in Beijing in 1982. greatauntoftriplets Feb 2020 #11
They built this in 19 days in 2015: dalton99a Feb 2020 #12
part of the chinese GDP is base on projects in construction, not completed. Javaman Feb 2020 #15
I believe it. greatauntoftriplets Feb 2020 #16
It's an incredible response to an emergency situation. Silver1 Feb 2020 #17
This message was self-deleted by its author JudyM Feb 2020 #21

usaf-vet

(6,094 posts)
7. All though not nearly comparable to this 1500 bed hospital. The US military used to have mobile...
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 01:02 PM
Feb 2020

.... hospitals. To serve in national emergencies.

I was assigned to a 150-bed mobile hospital complete with all the services found in a mortar and brick facility. A mobile hospital and all the personnel need for it to be functional. A hospital that could have been flown to any disaster in the U.S. Set up and running essentially overnight.

For example, it was the first functioning mobile hospital on the ground and taking patients after the early 1960's Alaskan earthquake. Although that deployment was before my time with the unit the stories were that it was up an functional within the first 24 hours after the event.

Sadly all those hospitals were disbanded in the 1980s. Disbanded I believe when it was decided to privatize military healthcare. With the privatized healthcare the military medical corps were drastically downsized leaving the hospital with no personnel to man and maintain them.


Just think of the number of national disasters we see each year where those hospitals would have been an asset to have on the ground taking patients. Tornado, hurricanes, epidemics, earthquakes and large regional fires are all examples of tie and place where those hospitals would have been useful.

Can't quite picture a mobile hospital? Think of the old TV series. M.A.S.H. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Other branches of the military had these hospitals. In my case, it was an Air Force unit.

Javaman

(62,439 posts)
13. I work for an architecture firm and we build hospitals. yes we build these now...
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 01:55 PM
Feb 2020

they are called walmarts.

if you honestly believe that this thing is a hospital of any virtue, I have a bridge to sell you.

NYC Liberal

(20,132 posts)
20. How well do you really think this is built?
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 07:52 PM
Feb 2020

Sure, it can be done — if you don't care about safety, labor, and environmental standards.

patricia92243

(12,590 posts)
2. I think they are more of a barracks to isolate sick people than what we
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 12:40 PM
Feb 2020

Last edited Mon Feb 3, 2020, 04:18 PM - Edit history (1)

think of as a hospital.

matt819

(10,749 posts)
6. Okay
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 12:49 PM
Feb 2020

But what's the alternative? Allowing the sick to remain in their communities and further spread disease?

That said, is this better than any number of other alternatives? After all, the numbers are growing very quickly, and 1,000 beds may not be enough. It's not unreasonable to criticize the Chinese for taking little action in the first few weeks of the reports of the disease and its spread. You can chalk this up to any number of things - the Communist party, autocratic control, fear, uncertainty. And you can argue that they are not moving fast enough or doing enough of the right things, whatever those may be. But it does show some level of commitment to deal with this seemingly increasing crisis.

I haven't seen any video on the interiors, but if these barracks have doctors and nurses and medical equipment and medication, then it's a hospital. It may not be Brigham and Women's or the Cleveland Clinic. It may not be be pretty. But it's a place to provide medical care in an emergency. And I don't think the US is equipped to do the same.

BTW, this is a very interesting read regarding US responses to pandemic/epidemic crises: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/

patricia92243

(12,590 posts)
9. sorry - I did not mean my post as a critisim. I think it just explains
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 01:13 PM
Feb 2020

how they could build so fast.

I totally agree with what you are saying.

Javaman

(62,439 posts)
14. that's exactly what this is. a giant warehouse for sick people...
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 01:58 PM
Feb 2020

any hospital of any nature here in the states or internationally of any respect, has, even fast tracked, 4 years build time.

I work at an architecture firm and we build hospitals.

this thing that china has build it nothing more than a warehouse for sick people.

catsudon

(839 posts)
19. this is similar to the SARS
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 07:42 PM
Feb 2020

hospital they built that the local says, once you go in, you never come out.

greatauntoftriplets

(175,698 posts)
11. I was in Beijing in 1982.
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 01:23 PM
Feb 2020

The hotel where I stayed had just been completed (some interior finishes were still being done) and built in just six weeks. The architectural drawings were the same ones that had been done for a Holiday Inn in Fayetteville, NC.

There was a construction site next door and they were working on it literally 24/7. I have never seen so many workers on a single construction site. No sidewalk superintendents, either.

dalton99a

(81,068 posts)
12. They built this in 19 days in 2015:
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 01:30 PM
Feb 2020


A Chinese construction company is claiming to be the world’s fastest builder after erecting a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 working days in central China.

Broad Sustainable Building, a prefab construction firm, put up the rectangular, glass and steel Mini Sky City in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha, assembling three floors a day using a modular method, the vice-president, Xiao Changgeng, said.

Mini Sky City has 19 atriums, 800 apartments and office space for 4,000 people, with space in the building going on sale in May. The structure is safe and can withstand earthquakes, according to Xiao.

Broad Sustainable Building spent four and a half months fabricating the building’s 2,736 modules before construction began. The first 20 floors were completed last year, and the remaining 37 were built from 31 January to 17 February this year, Xiao said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/30/chinese-construction-firm-erects-57-storey-skyscraper-in-19-days

Javaman

(62,439 posts)
15. part of the chinese GDP is base on projects in construction, not completed.
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 02:04 PM
Feb 2020

I would never ever set foot in something built that quick.

I would need to see the structural schedule to make sure they poured the concrete correctly and allowed the time needed for it to cure.

they build to make money, they don't give a shit if anyone actually occupies them.

that's why china is dotted with ghost cities.

Silver1

(721 posts)
17. It's an incredible response to an emergency situation.
Mon Feb 3, 2020, 03:34 PM
Feb 2020

1,400 doctors, nurses and personnel will be on staff. Many people who would otherwise not recover will have a chance to.

Very importantly, this will be a very good opportunity to get real information on how this virus works and what it responds to because they can monitor it so closely.

Has anyone seen the pictures of the Spanish flu hospitals in 1918? Massive rooms with hundreds of people lying on cots just a few feet away from one another.

I wonder how the Trump administration is planning to do if extra medical facilities are needed. Seriously ... they've got to be talking about it.


Response to usaf-vet (Original post)

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