NYC signs $250M hotel room contract to house patients, personnel

In its ongoing quest to free up space in medical facilities while the coronavirus continues to spread, the city has tapped a lodging logistics firm to help provide hotel rooms for patients who are not sick enough to be hospitalized.

The city’s Emergency Management department signed a $250 million contract with Texas-based CrewFacilities.com, Politico reported. The rooms will be used to house medical staff as well as patients who have been discharged from hospitals or who are unable to practice social distancing due to cramped housing. The deal will allow hospitals to refer patients directly to hotels.

“New Yorkers who can safely isolate in their homes are asked to continue to do so,” emergency management spokesman Omar Bourne told Politico in a statement. “The city remains committed to providing resources to protect vulnerable New Yorkers against the spread of Covid-19, while balancing all available resources to fight this pandemic.”

The city has already occupied hundreds of hotel rooms in its efforts to address the outbreak. Venues such as the Jacob Javits Convention Center, the U.S. Open Complex in Queens, Central Park and the navy hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort have also contributed capacity.

Occupancy at hotels in the city has fallen to about 18 percent, according to data from STR. Meanwhile some hotels, such as Marx Development Group’s Courtyard by Marriott near the Javits Center, have managed to fare better by renting rooms to city and federal agencies. [Politico] — Kevin Sun