Cox South Spending $1 Million to Expand COVID-19 Ward

Cox South announced a $1 million expansion of their COVID-19 ward in an attempt to keep up with anticipated case growth.

The expansion will add 33 beds to the fifth floor COVID-19 ICU unit. Including the expansion, it will give Cox South a total of 180 beds in its system for COVID patients.

“We have said from the beginning that we would rather build spaces and not need them, then need them and not have them,” Steve Edwards, president and CEO of CoxHealth, said in a statement. “Our great hope is that we never need this expansion to care for COVID-19 patients, but it will have been worth it to us to have it ready if we do.”

The expansion will transform the remaining empty space on the hospital expansion’s fifth floor into a medical unit. The construction will begin after another unit in the hospital’s construction is finished, and that unit may handle COVID cases if needed.

Cox also announced they are aggressively looking across the state for new staff and is bringing in traveling health professionals to meet their staffing needs.