Open AccessNo time to wait: Commandeering healthcare facilities in the age of COVID-19
Author(s) -
Taleed ElSabawi,
Leo Beletsky,
Cynthia Hernandez,
Jennifer Carroll
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of emergency management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.345
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 2374-8702
pISSN - 1543-5865
DOI - 10.5055/jem.2020.0524
Subject(s) - covid-19 , eminent domain , pandemic , business , power (physics) , health care , medical emergency , outbreak , political science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , medicine , disease , law , virology , physics , quantum mechanics , pathology
In this editorial, we address the urgent need to rapidly expand hospital and ICU capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic and future infectious disease outbreaks. As a remedy to this problem currently plaguing many US municipalities, we discuss states' Emergency Takings Power, an alternative to eminent domain proceedings that allows the immediate commandeering of vacant hospitals without exorbitant costs or the need to litigate fair market price up front. We briefly describe the legal basis for emergency takings power and how states can empower local municipalities to act on that power during public health emergencies.