PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA - The City of Long Beach is taking extensive measures to prepare for an influx in individuals seeking medical care in response to COVID-19, including establishing mobile hospital tents, opening a no-cost Rapid Assessment Clinic and staging a Field Hospital. The City has been rigorously preparing for these types of measures, in the event alternative medical options were to be needed to treat a surge in medical patients in the City.

“We are doing everything in our power to prepare for the medical and hospital surge in the weeks ahead,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “We’ve added hospital and clinic capacity by hundreds of beds and we will continue to do so.”

Mobile hospital tents have been established outside of emergency rooms at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, St. Mary Medical Center and College Hospital and are providing medical assessments and triage for individuals displaying mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19. The Long Beach Health and Human Services Department is one of only a few jurisdictions in the state to have access to mobile hospitals.

The walk-up Rapid Assessment Clinic, opening next week at the Long Beach City College Pacific Coast Campus, will provide medical assistance to people who might otherwise feel compelled to visit an emergency room for their conditions. It will not provide treatment, take X-rays or fill prescriptions on-site, but will provide medical assessments and will renew and prescribe medications for people with routine health maintenance issues. People needing prescription renewals are urged to bring a list of their current medications, or pill bottles if they have them. People who have a cough, fever without rash, sore throat or moderate flu-like symptoms will be evaluated in a separate area and, based on their medical assessment, may be referred for testing for COVID-19. Starting Monday, April 6, the clinic will operate from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., seven days a week and until further notice. Parking will be available in the campus lot near Orange Ave., north of Pacific Coast Highway. Signage will be present to direct individuals to the clinic tents.

In addition, the City has also staged a temporary Field Hospital inside the Long Beach Sports Arena, with medical supplies and approximately 100 cots. The Field Hospital has been deployed as of today and will stand ready to be activated if needed to remove pressure from area hospitals.

Both the Field Hospital and the Rapid Assessment Clinic will be staffed by members of the Long Beach Medical Reserves Corps, which consists of volunteer medical professionals from the community, including doctors, nurses, medical assistants and nurse practitioners.

As of April 1, 2020, Long Beach healthcare community partners, including College Medical Center, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center, Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital, and St. Mary Medical Center, can staff more than 1,400 beds. As a result of these extensive preparation measures, healthcare partners can now support an influx of more than 400 additional beds at their facilities collectively. These numbers are based on currently available staffing and may change over time depending on the progression of the health crisis. The activation of the Field Hospital will provide an additional 100 beds to supplement emergency healthcare requirements in the City.

The City of Long Beach continues to work to establish drive-thru testing location(s) in the City. More information will be provided next week.

For the latest information on COVID-19, with details on all that the City of Long Beach is doing to keep its residents safe, visit: longbeach.gov/COVID19 and follow @LongBeachCity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.