Cox South in Springfield adding 33 beds to COVID-19 ICU unit

(From Cox Health)

2020 has been a year of going above and beyond. As we face a surge of COVID-19 in the community, crews have been working seven days a week to build new patient space at Cox South.

The team recently added 36 new private rooms on the third floor – rooms that can expand to 72 beds if the pandemic demand requires it. 

Meanwhile, CoxHealth announced on Dec. 7 we will be adding 33 beds to the fifth floor COVID-19 ICU unit at Cox South.

Including this upcoming expansion, the health system will have added more than 180 beds to its hospitals since the COVID-19 pandemic began – an effort for which Steve Edwards says CoxHealth is “forever grateful.”

“We have said from the beginning that we would rather build spaces and not need them, than need them and not have them,” Edwards says. “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.”