Manhattan cathedral is converted into a makeshift hospital with nine medical tents and 400 beds in its nave - ready for COVID-19 patients to arrive as soon as next week(18 Pics)
New photographs show how the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York has been transformed into a field hospital practically overnight.
The Gothic style cathedral, located in Manhattan's Morningside Heights, has cleared its pews in exchange for 400 hospital beds inside its 600-foot-long nave.
Volunteers converted the historic church, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world, into a makeshift hospital on Wednesday to house COVID-19 patients as New York continues to be the nation’s epicenter of the deadly outbreak.
Nine climate-controlled medical tents will be placed in the nave and subterranean crypt.
Boxes of materials arrived to the church on Tuesday and by Wednesday dozens of beds were already lined up.
New photographs show how the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, has been transformed into a field hospital practically overnight. Hospital beds are seen inside the chapel of the cathedral
Nine medical tents and 400 hospital beds will be placed in the historic church to help treat patients suffering from coronavirus
Volunteers arrived at the church on Wednesday to raise medical tents where COVID-19 patients will be treated by doctors from Mount Sinai Morningside hospital next door
Volunteers place beds in a chapel while building a field hospital at the historic church Wednesday
Samaritan's Purse, a non-denominational Christian humanitarian organization led by the Rev. Franklin Graham, has helped to organize the field hospital
Cathedral officials say at least 200 COVID-19 patients could start to arrive by next week and medical workers from the Mount Sinai Morningside hospital next door will tend to them.
The church said it is being transformed into a temporary infirmary, just as cathedrals have always been used in plagues of the past.
New York City is reeling from the COVID-19 outbreak reporting over 80,000 cases of the virus and over 4,000 deaths.
To deal with the influx of patients other field hospitals have opened in Central Park and the Javits Center.
The church grounds consist of three stone buildings on 11 acres of land.
On Tuesday boxes filled with tents were delivered inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Volunteers wore masks and practiced social distancing as they set up the field hospital
The makeshift hospital will include nine climate-controlled medical tents
New York City is reeling from the COVID-19 outbreak reporting over 80,000 cases of the virus and over 4,000 deaths, leading to a shortage of hospital beds across the city. This makeshift infirmary will help with that patient overflow
Volunteers prepare to set up beds in what will be a field hospital in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on Wednesday
Volunteers wore masks on Wednesday as they labored to transform the church into a field hospital over the course of the day
Two volunteers pictured setting up a bed at the cathedral, which is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world
'In earlier centuries, cathedrals were always used this way, like during the plague. So this is not outside the experience of being a cathedral, it is just new to us,' Reverend Dean Clifton Daniel III said on the transformation of the church
The reverend offered up use of the church in March.
'The last thing like this was the flu pandemic in 1918, but the world was different then and I don’t think they used the cathedral in this way,' Reverend Dean Clifton Daniel III told the New York Times on Monday.
'In earlier centuries, cathedrals were always used this way, like during the plague. So this is not outside the experience of being a cathedral, it is just new to us.'
Samaritan's Purse, who helped build field hospitals in Central Park recently, were involved in the church project.
The massive cathedral, which began construction 1892, is yet to be complete and is the world’s sixth-largest church by area with 121,000 square feet in floor area.
Currently unused due to social distancing guidelines, the grounds are also home to three peacocks.
Volunteers tape down tarps to the floor of a chapel while building a field hospital at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Wednesday
A view inside the cathedral pictured above where the ground is covered in protective material before setting up beds and tents
The massive cathedral, which began construction 1982, is yet to be complete and is the world’s sixth-largest church by area with 121,000 square feet in floor area
Rows of boxes of construction materials and hospital tents pictured outside the church waiting to be unpacked
To deal with the influx of patients other field hospitals have opened in Central Park and the Javits Center
