Army staffing field hospitals to fight coronavirus while trying to stay ready for war

The United States Army is opening the first field hospital for civilians in New York City Monday. The new medical facility at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan is designed to handle non-COVID-19 patients, freeing existing New York hospitals to expand their fight against the coronavirus.

That fight against COVID-19 is unlike any other Army chief of staff General James McConville, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has seen. "You're in a war against an invisible threat," he told medics at the Javits Center.

McConville received a briefing and tour of the converted facility Sunday. Starting Monday, the hospital can help save about 1,000 lives at a time. By next week, there will be 3,000 beds.

McConville said the playbook could be used nationwide.