BOSTON – Springfield’s MassMutual Center has been identified as a potential site for field hospital operations as part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Charlie Baker made the announcement as part of an April 2 situation update during which he outlined the state’s projections of a surge in cases of COVID-19 between April 10 and April 20. Baker indicated the latest models suggested anywhere between 47,000 and 172,000 people – representing 0.7 to 2.5 percent of the state’s population – could become infected.

“For the past few weeks, we’ve had a talented group of experts working through the command center with academics, healthcare experts and public health folks to plan a coordinated response based on the modeling associated with how the surge might appear, what it might look like and how it will land,” he said.

Baker cited the guidance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stating people should be prepared for the worst, ensure they have the capacity to address that scenario and adjust accordingly.

With that said, in spite of Massachusetts hospitals’ best efforts to prepare for the upcoming surge, Baker said an estimated 500 additional ICU beds would be needed, as well as more ventilators and supplies. As well, the state is seeking to build out 750 to 1,000 additional beds with field hospital technology.

Baker said the use of these field hospitals has been a “proven approach that’s been used around the country and across the world to create additional capacity to deal with fluid situations just like this one.”

A recently constructed 200-bed facility at the DCU Center in Worcester is one of three field stations the Baker Administration hopes to open. Springfield’s MassMutual Center was among the other locations the governor mentioned specifically as a potential site as well as the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and the Joint Base Cape Cod military facility and “other smaller locations around Massachusetts.”

“Facilities like this will help clinicians relieve the pressure on the healthcare system by treating the patients that do not have to be in a traditional hospital at some point in time in their treatment to be treated.”

The MassMutual Center is owned by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, a state agency. Baker said the staffing source for a Springfield field operation had not yet been identified.

In response, Mayor Domenic Sarno told Reminder Publishing in a statement, “My administration has continuously been working with all federal, state and local partners on relief and recovery contingency plans. We work and hope for the best, but as we have done before we always prepare for the worst. One thing for sure, we will get through this together as one and for the better.”