CHOMP to take down COVID-19 triage tent

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION)

Exactly one year after Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula's (CHOMP) COVID-19 respiratory triage tent had its first patient, the tent is coming down on Friday.

According to CHOMP's website, there are five COVID-19 patients in the hospital. One person is in the ICU. This is significantly down from the recently holiday surge, where on December 8th Medical Director Dr. Martha Blum told reporters, "our capacity now is zero based on what we're already trying to do."

The triage tent, like at many other hospitals, is designed to reduce the spread of the virus by creating a separate area for people arriving at the hospital with respiratory/flu-like symptoms.

In a press release before Friday's event taking down the tent, the hospital writes "as the positivity rate and hospitalizations for COVID-19 have steeply declined, the need for the tent has decreased. New safety protocols have been put in place to continue to protect all patients, visitors, and Emergency department staff."

Since the tent was put up on March 12, 2020. 1,633 patients were assessed. Overall, the hospital tested 28,236 patients for COVID-19, with 1,628 testing positive. 79 patients died.

California Department of Public Health lists Monterey County's 7-day average positivity rate at 3.1%, down from a peak of 20% near the start of the 2021.