The largest Gothic cathedral in the world will now become an emergency hospital to treat patients from overwhelmed NYC hospitals.
According to The New York Times, the church and crypt space underneath it will be turned into a hospital with the help of medical tents to hold at least 200 patients. About 400 beds were delivered last week and they will start treating patients by the end of the week or early next week.
It is unknown now if the patients will be COVID-19 patients or just general overflow from the hospitals.
Medical staff from Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital (which is right next door), will work at the temporary hospital, and it is being partly organized by the same group who set up the Central Park tent hospitals.
“…Traditionally, in earlier centuries, cathedrals were always used this way, like during the plague,” Rev. Clifton Daniel III, the dean of the church, told the Times. “So this is not outside the experience of being a cathedral, it is just new to us.”
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