Where will all the sick people go?

If the outbreak gets even worse, the U.S. will need to take care of patients that are seriously ill outside the hospital, too. The military, FEMA, and even state emergency responders are experienced in setting up tent hospitals that can provide high levels of care, including surgery, in disasters or mass-casualty events. But they are not set up for a virus that can spread through the air. “In mobile hospitals, very rarely do you have a lot of negative-pressure rooms,” Lew Stringer, a former senior medical adviser to FEMA, says. The facilities are not usually designed with stringent infection-control measures in mind.

Besides the risk of transmission, many coronavirus patients are in hospitals because they need supplemental oxygen, which Toner says could be especially tricky to deliver in a field hospital. Typically, hospitals store their oxygen in tanks, which are connected through the building to patient rooms. The tanks are big. They are potential fire hazards. And they might require yards and yards of tubing to connect them to patients who need oxygen. Building modern field hospitals for a highly contagious disease is “not something that’s ever been done before,” Toner says. “We’ll have to figure it out.” These field hospitals will also need more of all the standard equipment: beds, IV lines, and personal protective gear for hospital staff.