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Countries across the world are opening hotels for COVID-19 patients, allowing them to stay in places called “coronavirus hotels.”
What’s going on:
- Dan Jerusalem Hotel has added a slew of aspects to its setup to accommodate for COVID-19 patients. The hotel added plexiglass to the desks. New guests will come in by ambulance.
- Dan Jerusalem Hotel has been nicknamed “Hotel Corona” because its employees — 400 or so employees — have decided to work there during the virus outbreak, according to NPR.
- Baruch Shpitzer, the reception manager, told NPR: “For me, it was simple. I knew from the beginning that I’m going to stay. There is a say(ing) in the hotel industry that it’s also like a virus. If it catches you, it’s very hard to go out.”
- Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered several hotels to be opened for pandemic patients, too, according to The Times of Israel.
- Hotels will receive patients for the next 48 hours.
In the U.S., hotels remain mostly empty
- Hotels across the United States remain mostly empty because of the coronavirus pandemic, as I reported for the Deseret News. In fact, about 80% of hotels remain empty as hotel occupancy, average daily rare and revenue per open room have dropped in the early springs months of the year, according to USA Today.