Province expands care beds at Peter Lougheed as COVID-19 cases rise

Temporary ward going up in hospital parking lot A temporary space to help deal with extra patients going up next to Peter Lougheed hospital. Brenna Rose reports

Calgary — In an effort to increase hospital capacity for the expected surge of COVID-19 patients, the provincial government announced Thursday it is adding a temporary expansion to the Peter Lougheed Centre in northeast Calgary.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro made the announcement during the province's daily COVID-19 briefing, saying the structure was donated by Sprung Structures and will add up to 6,000 square feet of treatment space.

In all, it will create around 100 more care spaces for patients in the Calgary area.

Shandro said that particular location was chosen because it is one of the two in Calgary where COVID-19 patients are being taken.

The new space, which will be erected in the parking lot beside the hospital, is expected to be ready for use by the end of the month.

As of Thursday, there have been 1,451 cases of the virus identified in Alberta. Just over 60 per cent of those cases have been identified in the Calgary zone.