U.S. Open tennis center tapped to handle COVID-19 patients

Mayor Bill de Blasio tours the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the city will soon build a 350-bed hospital. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

By Victoria Merlino

Flushing Meadows Corona Park’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will become a 350-bed medical facility during the all-hands-on-deck effort to treat patients with COVID-19. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday that the new facility will open April 7 with the goal of relieving some pressure from Elmhurst Hospital, which has faced major overcrowding. Queens accounted for about a third of the city’s 44,915 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of April 1.

“It's going to help take the pressure off Elmhurst,” de Blasio said. “We all know that for a variety of reasons, Elmhurst has been the place that is borne the brunt and the staff at Elmhurst, the doctors and nurses, everyone that works at Elmhurst, they've done an amazing job, but we want to give them as much relief as possible.”

The tennis center facility will treat COVID-19 patients who do not need to be admitted into intensive care units, according to the Mayor’s Office. 

The news was first reported in the Wall Street Journal. 

On Tuesday, the city distributed 800,000 N95 masks, 3,000,000 face masks, 120,000 face shields, 40,000 gowns, and 600,000 surgical gloves to hospitals citywide as medical centers scramble to protect their staff from the coronavirus.