NEW ORLEANS – The Morial N. Convention Center has been a place for specific COVID-19 patients to be treated since the beginning of April. However, the operation could be winding down soon. 

The Medical Monitoring Station opened up last month to help COVID-19 patients who needed hospital-level care but didn’t need an ICU. 

“We had a faster rise during the first two weeks of our outbreak in terms of new cases than anywhere in the world!” Assistant State Health Officer of Louisiana Department of Health, Dr. Joseph Kanter said this afternoon. 

The center is staffed with nurses and medical volunteers along with beds and housing units. The space was able to hold at least 2,000 patients but in six weeks, only 200 were seen which health leaders were pleased with. 

“We were projecting this curve to go up and up and up and because our elective leaders acted responsibly, put in these social distancing measures and more-so because the community stepped up to the plate and followed them, we bent that curve!”

The Medical Monitoring Center is in the process of ramping down. Now, the capacity only holds 500 patients. The majority of the beds and staffing will be removed but some resources will remain. 

“We’re going into hurricane season” Kanter said. “And hurricane season has the potential to be complex because we have to account for COVID when we think about evacuations and sheltering.”

As the city begins to re-open, Dr. Kanter says the public should do their part to continue to slow the spread. “They still need to be cautious. They still need to take precautions. There’s a lot of risk out there. I want people to make responsible decisions for them and for their family.”