Harlingen, Texas (KVEO)—Casa de Amistad, the second-largest COVID-19 recovery center, is no longer taking new patients, city officials say.
Casa de Amistad is a 13,000 square feet convention hall. In August, the building became a recovery center capable of housing 96 patients that no longer needed acute care.
The center treated a total of 56 patients since August.
Josh Ramirez, public health director for the city of Harlingen, says that even though they are not taking in new patients, the center’s medical equipment will remain in place in case of a spike in new cases sparks a surge of hospitalizations.
“If we begin to start seeing an increase or spike of COVID cases, some would most likely end up in the hospital seeking medical care and will again saturate the hospitals. Therefore, we may need to re-open the Casa De Amistad Hospital Relieve Center, as it was named.” said Ramirez.
The health care facility accepted patients from Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Brownsville, Harlingen Medical Center, and Valley Regional Medical Center.
As of Wednesday, Cameron County has a total of 23,612 people that have tested positive for COVID-19 cases. There have also been an additional 149 individuals who have recovered, raising the total number of recovered individuals to 21,192.
