NEW ORLEANS – 37 coronavirus patients were moved into the Morial Convention Center this week, which has been turned into a temporary medical center.

A spokeswoman for Governor John Bel Edwards confirmed to WGNO News that the patients have been arriving since the start of the week. They are patients who no longer need care in an intensive care unit, but are not well enough to recover at home. The medical center is called a “step down” facility, as in, a step down from the intensity of care that’s needed in an ICU.

However, at his daily news briefing (April 8) the Governor said the state’s hospitals are not in need of additional beds– for the time being. The Governor said the state’s “mitigation efforts” have helped to “flatten the curve” of new coronavirus cases, easing the strain on the hospitals.

So why are patients in the Morial Convention Center if the hospitals have enough room? The Governor’s spokeswoman explained the apparent contradiction by saying that when the first patients arrived on Monday (April 6), the state’s projected shortage of hospital beds seemed imminent.

And a reminder from the Governor’s office: no visitors are allowed to see patients in the Convention Center, and”walk up” patients will not be admitted– only those who’ve been taken there by a hospital ambulance.