Before shutting down the medical facility at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center last month, Louisianaâs government shelled out more than $400,000 for each patient that arrived at the facility since April, representing about half of the total amount spent by the governorâs emergency division responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
The high price tag was partly the result of severe overestimations of how many patients would use the facility, something on which government health officials say they are glad to have missed the mark. Four hundred sixteen patients wound up at the âstep-downâ facility from April to November. On most days only a handful were staying there.