Governor Evers on Thursday announced an emergency order opening the Alternative Care Facility (ACF) at the State Fair Park Exposition Center, but multiple sources who work there say it will likely open with no patients and that very few will qualify to be treated there.
"They are opening it up this Friday, but acknowledge there likely won’t be any patients that qualify to transfer," said one source, who is anonymous because he is not authorized to speak publicly. "They’ve hired 400 so far to staff the facility. There are 530 beds set up. They already have everything they need to set up an additional 200-plus more beds. They said they’ve been told to expect the next peak will be late fall/early winter, but it hasn’t been decided yet whether or not everything will stay set up."
Construction of the facility, which is being run by the Department of Administration, was completed earlier this week. Its staggering number of beds and staff is disproportionate to the number of likely patients, because according to the order opening it, the facility will only accept "low-acuity, minimal monitoring patients."
"Any Wisconsin hospital that has reached approximately 80% of its [COVID-19 treatment] capacity may transfer to the ACF low acuity diagnosed COVID-19 positive patients or patients otherwise meeting the criteria of COVID-19 if untested," the order continues.
According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, Wisconsin has as of this writing 349 total COVID-19 patients, including 146 in intensive care and 203 with Coronavirus test results still pending. There are currently 458 ICU beds and 172 intermediate care beds available.
"The beds [at the ACF] are cots and really uncomfortable," said a source who works at the facility. "I can't imagine anyone willing to stay there more than one night."
Governor Evers, though, said in a statement announcing the ACF's opening that he is looking forward to it serving patients.
“The ACF will soon provide an additional tool to the SE Wisconsin region to expand the continuum of care for individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19,” he said.
It is unlikely, however, to accept very many patients at all since hospitals are not experiencing the extreme strain on resources that was initially feared and the ACF itself is only equipped to house a very narrow subset of Coronavirus patients.
The ACF, a source explained, cannot accept patients in serious condition because "there's no crash cart available, but Flight for Life will be on site at all times."
"Management repeatedly reminded us that this is not a hospital, so they are only accepting the most stable patients," a source added. "They refer to it as an oxygen treatment facility.
"We can't take patients with mental health issues, complicated medical profiles, uncontrolled Diabetes, or dementia/Alzheimer’s. They must be ambulatory or able to get up with only one person assisting them.
"Essentially we will be only accepting adults who are well on their way to recovery but just need to get weaned off of oxygen."