Convention Center ‘MASH’ Unit Closing, But Health Chief Warns COVID Dangers Remain

As many businesses in Pasadena and L.A. County prepare to reopen with Friday’s easing of Stay at Home orders, one sign of optimism regarding possible pandemic progress might be what won’t reopen – or, in this case, won’t open in the first place.

The 250-bed alternate-care facility that was set up in April at the Pasadena Convention Center – a safeguard in case the number of COVID-19 patients overwhelmed Huntington Hospital – is being officially decommissioned at the end of the month, city officials confirmed.

To everyone’s relief, the MASH-like set-up was never needed and never used, as Huntington was able to handle the number of COVID patients who required hospitalization.

However, health officials, including Dr. Ying-Ying Goh, Pasadena’s director of public health, reiterated this week that with increased interaction from reopened businesses comes increased risk of a spike in COVID cases — a scenario that has already begun to register in L.A. County, where health officials on Thursday reported 1,857 new coronavirus cases and 46 additional COVID-related deaths.

While it was the largest single-day number of new cases announced by the county during the pandemic, health officials said that roughly 600 of those cases were the result of a backlog in the reporting of test results. Pasadena and Long Beach, with their own health departments, combined to confirm an additional 84 cases on Thursday.

Such numbers have prompted continued warnings from health officials such as Goh that, while businesses are reopening, the threat of COVID-19 has not passed and a surge remains possible.

“Over the past two weeks, the city has been able to make significant efforts toward reopening our economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as a state order has been modified to loosen restrictions, allowing certain sectors to open. We have been able to do so locally based on our local epidemiology,’’ Goh told the City Council this week.

“It has become clear, from our community, our City Council and our state and county leadership that it is no longer an option for all of us to remain safer at home to the extent that we were able to do for a time. … (But) we continue to ask everyone to stay safer at home to the extent they can, especially those at greater risk.’’

Goh also stressed that, “We should expect now, that if more people are interacting, there will be an increase in the kinds of interactions that allow the virus to spread, despite our best efforts to engineer protocols to prevent this. With more person-to-person interaction, it is likely we’ll see an increase in cases throughout our community in all settings.’’

According to Goh, health officials will closely monitor data in the coming days and weeks, wary of a possible surge that still could challenge the capacity of local hospitals.

Indeed, when asked by Council Member Andy Wilson on Monday if she were comfortable with the current configuration of the hospital beds in case of second wave of coronavirus, Goh replied, “No, I can’t really say that at all. I think that we will have to follow the data closely and be prepared to surge again if needed.’’

“I think that we do want to have the surge capacity,’’ she added, “but the level of beds at the Convention Center was for very low-level care, and we, since that time, have seen the hospital expand their capacity on site with better-equipped spaces…

“I feel that those beds that are there (at the hospital) will better serve higher acuity patients and the people who would likely need it. That helps to moderate the loss of the cots, really, that were at the Convention Center.’’

As of this week, according to Goh, there were fewer than 20 COVID patients being treated at Huntington Hospital.

The spillover facility at the Convention Center was approved by the council in April following a city staff report that said “projections provided by Huntington Memorial Hospital indicate that at (the outbreak’s) peak, currently estimated for mid-May, there could be as many as 1,300 persons requiring hospitalization at its facility for treatment of COVID-19. … Such a peak would exceed that capacity by approximately 400 beds.’’

But those numbers did not materialize, leading to the decision to decommission the makeshift facility.

“Based on the data, COVID-19 projections and consultation with local and state health officials at the time, our City Council recognized the importance of having surge capacity in place in coordination with Huntington Hospital,” City Manager Steve Mermell told Pasadena Now on Sunday. “No patients were placed there, although we had a plan in place should there have been a need. With all the mass gatherings and reopening we hope we don’t get a large influx of cases in the next few weeks.”

City staff estimated the initial cost of establishing the temporary medical facility at about $250,000 for the first month and $180,000 for each month thereafter.

Meanwhile, Goh told the council that a second wave of COVID cases is not a matter of if, but of when – and, more important, of how severe.

“We’re trying to model out when we would expect another wave,’’ she said. “I don’t think that the possibility of not having one is on the table. I think that there will be, and possibly in the fall.’’

City News Service contributed to this report.