National Tennis Center expected to admit first patients in temporary hospital Friday

The first COVID-19 patients are expected to arrive Friday at the temporary hospital that has been set up at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (NTC) in Queens, N.Y. 

The first set of 150 beds is nearing completion, with officials from New York City's building and fire departments likely to sign off on the facility in the next day or two.

The temporary hospital is being housed in the NTC's Indoor Training Center and will see 12 courts and around 100,000 square feet of space converted into 475 beds, including 20 for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients. 

Elsewhere at the tennis center, the site of the US Open, a different set of teams has been creating meal packages that are being distributed to patients, workers and school children.

Levy Restaurants, the food and beverage supplier for the US Open, and Restaurant Associates are using Louis Armstrong Stadium's commissary to fulfill the packages. Teams have been creating the packages from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. six days a week since last Monday.

Each package consists of two days’ worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner, with teams creating 25,000 packages every day. Crews have prepared and delivered more than 1.2 million meals in the past nine days.