Many things in healthcare facilities have stopped because of the COVID-19 pandemic. From visitors to electric surgeries, hospitals have eliminated or curtailed a host of operations and activities, but in some organizations, one thing has not stopped – construction.

Consider BayCare in Florida. BayCare began plans to expand St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa in 2016, and ground was broken in 2018 for the $126 million project for a new six-story tower, 90 private patient rooms and a pedestrian bridge. So as COVID-19 cases surged in spring, officials moved to expedite the opening of the expansion. And they pulled it off, boosting patient intake capacity at the end of July as opposed to late September, when the project was originally scheduled for completion, according to the Business Observer.

The hospital dates back to 1934 and was rebuilt in 1967. With private as opposed to semi-private rooms with shared bathrooms that have gone out of style, the upgraded facility will be a more attractive option for many patients and their families. Click here to read the article.

Or consider the project that has started at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance, one of five trauma centers in Los Angeles County. The center has begun a $1.6 billion upgrade that will include a new 468,000-square-foot inpatient tower and 198,000-square-foot outpatient building, dramatically reshaping the antiquated facility and improving patient care. Demolition of World War II-era barracks on the hospital’s campus is already underway, and the project is slated to be “substantially completed” by mid-2027, according to the Los Angeles Daily Times.