Head of Army Corps of Engineers reveals 'immense' operation to build 341 field hospitals across America to battle coronavirus - and US Open Queens Stadium will be among them

The head of the Army Corps of Engineers revealed his plan to build 341 coronavirus field hospitals across the US to battle the pandemic on Tuesday, and one will be the US Open Arena in New York City. 

Lt. General Todd Semonite appeared on Good Morning America to reveal his plan and explain how the army goes about selecting appropriate sites. 

There are already temporary hospitals being built in New York and Illinois, but contracts are expected to be signed on others throughout the day. 

Among the facilities in New York is the Javits Center and Central Park in Manhattan. On Monday, Queens Stadium which hosts the US Open every year announced it was turning its various facilities into a hospital and commissary where meals will be prepared for the city's healthcare workers. 

The others are the Westchester Civic Center, SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Westbury. 

Construction is also underway at three sites in Illinois; McOrmick Place, an exposition center in Chicago, and two disused hospitals - Metro South Medical on Blue Island and Sherman Hospital in England, Illinois. 

Lt. Gen. Semonite said on Monday that the Corps was prepared for the challenge and eager to get to work building the sites before the pandemic peak hits.  

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Lt. General Todd Semonite appeared on Good Morning America to reveal his plan and explain how the army goes about selecting appropriate sites

Good Morning America

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Lt. General Todd Semonite of the Army Corps of Engineers talks to @GStephanopoulos about the number of sites they will build out across the country and explains what it takes to turn a site into a medical facility. https://gma.abc/2vYi1su 

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'The scope is immense,' he said in a Skype interview with George Stephanopoulos, who was broadcasting from his home because his wife is exhibiting some symptoms of the virus. 

'There are three different aspects; there's a shortage of sites and facilities, a shortage of supplies and there's a potential shortage of staff. 

'We're looking right now at 341 different facilities across all of the US [that will be] similar to the Javits Center. 

'There are eight contracts under gear right now which provide probably around 8,500 beds. 

'By the end of the day we should have another five contracts. We don't know where this is going to go. 

'What the corps wanted to do was come up with an option... a solution that the states could employ,' he said.  

He explained the strategy for selecting which sites will be used, saying they go first for buildings that are already functioning with water, heat and electricity then look at 'wide open spaces' like Central Park which is more of a challenge.

'Think about establishing something on green grass. It's awful hard. You have to bring in water, electricity... when we got to New York we had to find a solution. 

'Our first thought was, "make it extremely simple." Find an existing facility that has heat, water, electricity, IT, parking lots and put whatever we can in there. '

'There are two big types of thoughts; hotels and dormitories. We're doing a lot of those and the other is large, big open spaces,' he said.  

It took a team of Army Engineers and National Guard troops five days to put 2,900 beds in the Javits Center. They finished ahead of schedule and are now looking at their next project. 

One other element of the operation is deciding which facilities will house COVID-19 patients and which won't. 

The Javits Center will take patients who do not have the virus, as will the USNS Comfort, which docked in NY Harbor on Monday.  

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One of the field hospitals in Central Park, New York City. Lt. Gen. Semonite said the Corps first tries to find places that already have heat, water and electricity, then looks at outdoor open spaces 

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The field hospital in Central Park is barricaded on one of the park's famous lawns 

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It took the Army Corps just five days to put 2,900 hospital beds in the Javits Center (shown)

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The Lt. General said there were eight other sites currently being constructed - he did not specify where they were 

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Footage of army personnel distributing supplies to make another makeshift hospital in an undisclosed location 

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Queens Stadium, where the US Open is held, will turn into a field hospital and commissary 

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The outdoor Louis Armstrong Stadium will be used as a commissary where thousands of meals will be pumped out for hospital staff 

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Monday recorded the highest number of deaths across the country to date, with 605 losing their lives , bringing the total death toll to 3,180

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The number of new cases of the virus in America continues to rise gradually by the day; on Monday, 22,022 new cases were recorded 

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This is how the uptick of new cases across America has happened and there are no signs yet of it slowing down 

Lt. Gen. Semonite said the sites that will take on coronavirus patients will be 'more complicated'. 

The Queens Stadium said it would for now welcome non-coronavirus patients but that it was open to taking in COVID-19 positive cases if needed. 

It will be spread across the campus. In an indoor training center, 350 hospital beds will be put up. 

The sprawling outdoor Louis Armstrong Stadium will be turned into a commissary that will be used to pump out meals for thousands of healthcare workers or others who need them. 

Chris Widmaier, a spokesman for the tennis center, told The Wall Street Journal: 'We’re there to do whatever the city and state needs.' 

In New York City, The Plaza hotel and St Regis Hotel will become hospitals for non-critical patients. 

It is unclear if they will house patients with coronavirus or others. 

The plan is to reduce the capacity in the city's hospital network to free up as many beds as possible for the people with the virus who will need care.

Already, they are overrun with patients and the body count is piling up.  

In New York City, more than 900 people have died from the virus and the peak is not predicted for another two weeks yet. 

It is then expected to tail off, but the virus is due to rear its head in other states. 

The University of Washington Medical School released analysis on Monday which suggested the pandemic will last throughout the country in some way for the next four months and that some states will not see their peaks until August. 

Its data predicts that 82,000 will die by the time it is over. The White House paints an even bleaker picture and says that between 100,000 and 200,000 will lose their lives. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says city is running out of ambulances, predicts school is finished for the year and says he'll cut his own tenants slack with their rent - as images show coronavirus victims in temporary morgues

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said the city is rapidly moving medical personnel onto EMS teams and is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on getting more ambulances as the number of NYC coronavirus cases rose to 38,087 and deaths 917 on Monday evening.

The mayor met with Thomas Von Essen, former Fire Department New York commissioner now at FEMA, Monday to discuss how the federal government can help the medical examiner's office properly store bodies after horrifying images Monday showed bodies being forklifted from gurneys at Brooklyn Hospital Center and loaded into a refrigerated truck.

De Blasio said Monday that the city will lease out entire hotels and turn them into hospitals. 'We're going to be doing that to the tune of thousands of thousands of rooms,' he said in an interview on NY1.

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Medical staff load bodies to a refrigerated truck outside of Brooklyn Hospital Center, New York on Monday amid the crisis

He also admitted Monday that it's likely school will be out for the rest of the academic year.

'My fear is this crisis goes far enough into May, that we really lose that window', he said about resuming classes. He admitted distance learning was not a good substitute and said he felt bad children were being deprived of their education.

The mayor also urged landlords to consider letting tenants use their security deposits to pay rent after last week saw a record 3.2million people file for unemployment benefits.

'So many people do not have the money to pay,' he told New York 1. He added it's 'good for landlords too' as the funds are 'sitting in a bank account' with landlords 'not legally allowed to touch' it.

The mayor suggested the landlords simply put in place a provision for restoring the deposit over time, adding it's 'very crazy to ask people with no income to pay rent'.

Asked whether he as a landlord would do the same for his tenants, he said he would if necessary.

Bill de Blasio added Monday that he had asked the Rent Guidelines Board to freeze rents and he said the the states should take action on some sort of rent moratorium for people who live in properties that are not rent stabilized.

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The USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds, 12 operating rooms and a full medical staff, arrived in the city on Monday. It will be used to treat non-coronavirus patients to free up space in city hospitals

New Yorkers are hearing a constant wail of sirens as weary ambulance crews respond to a record volume of 911 calls. The city's ambulances are responding to about 6,000 calls a day — more than 50% more than average.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Sunday that the last five days have been the busiest stretch in the history of the city's EMS operation. Nigro said the surge is delaying responses to lower-level calls.

De Blasio previously said the city is planning to shift personnel onto EMS crews to help keep up with demand and he has asked the federal government to deliver 400 more ventilators to city hospitals by Wednesday, warning that without reinforcements the city will run out of masks, gowns and other hospital supplies in a week.

With the expected peak of cases in the city still two to three weeks away, de Blasio previously said he has asked the US military to aid in sending waves of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to the city.

As well as the emergency services, hospitals have been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients in New York City where 38,0087 have been infected and 914 people have died.

Out of 775,306 cases globally, the US has the most with 160,020 cases. New York is the worst affected state at 66,497.

During a hellish six hour period from 10.30am to 4.30pm the city recorded a death every 2.9 minutes. Outside Mount Sinai hospital in Brooklyn they were loading the dead into a refrigerated truck on a residential street.