A historic Baltimore hotel has been repurposed amid the coronavirus pandemic, serving as a free isolation center for people with COVID-19.
BALTIMORE, Md. (AP) — A historic Baltimore hotel has been repurposed amid the coronavirus pandemic, serving as a free isolation center for people with COVID-19.
Since May, more than 600 people have come through the Lord Baltimore Hotel’s doors, the Baltimore Sun reported. Referrals to the city’s Triage, Respite, and Isolation Center come from hospitals as well as homeless shelters and recovery houses. It’s intended for people who aren’t sick enough to require hospitalization but who can’t self-isolate at home.
The initiative is a partnership between Baltimore and the University of Maryland Medical System. It’s being funded through $103 million the city received from the federal coronavirus relief bill. While those dollars expire in December, city officials plan to seek funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to keep it open longer, the newspaper reported.
Leon Love, a 68-year-old Baltimore resident, stayed there last month. He says the good care he received there helped him make a full recovery.
The new business has also helped the hotel hire back 20 of the 60 employees laid off earlier in the pandemic, according to the newspaper.
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