INDIO – (INT) - A federal medical station (FMS) is being set up at the Inland Empire’s epicenter for the coronavirus.

The California National Guard is at the Riverside County Fairgrounds in Indio to set up the FMS in an existing building. The station will provide an additional 250 beds to the county’s overall hospital system, which will help ease an expected surge in COVID-19 cases.

The California National Guard will not perform any law enforcement activities.

The FMS includes all the equipment to run a basic hospital. This includes beds, bed sheets, portable sinks, medication and 740 complete units of personal protective equipment (PPE), including N95 masks, surgical masks, gloves, gowns and face shields. These materials will be set up in two existing buildings to create two stations that will care for less acute patients.

“We know we’ll have more cases and some of them will be serious,” said Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser. “This medical station will relieve stress from our hospitals, allowing them to better provide higher levels of care for our sickest individuals, and get more people on the way to recovery faster."

The Coachella Valley has accounted for most of the Inland Empire's coronavirus cases and deaths.

Another 125 bed facility will be established in western Riverside County. The site for the western location has not been announced.

Story Date: March 31, 2020