Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez to be Turned into COVID Hospital

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, home of the Mexican Grand Prix and Mexican ePrix will see part of the pitlane turned into a hospital in order to treat COVID-19 patients in Mexico City.

For Formula E, this is the second time one of its venues has been transformed into an emergency hospital after the ExCel Arena, that was scheduled to host the season finale, was converted into NHS Nightingale in London. Fortunately for FIA FE, they have already completed their Mexican round and are not scheduled to return for the rest of the year.

The move is also unlikely to affect the Formula 1, who originally scheduled to host the event in November though this largely depends upon the rate of infection.

Speaking about the opening of the new facility, Zoé Robledo Aburto, Director-General of the Mexican Social Security Institute, emphasised the importance of treating the outpatients.

“The site is being prepared to be used as an expansion hospital that will serve to house more beds, mainly for patients with mild symptoms that still require hospitalization and cannot return to their homes and be treated as outpatients.“

“Mexico City needs a sizeable increase [in medical capacity], the IMMS (Mexican Social Security Institute) has 17 adapted hospitals and today an increase in capacity is required in this city.“

Zoé Robledo Aburto (translated from Spanish)

Mexico currently has 2112 hospitalized patients in the capital alone, 824 of which require an ICU bed and mechanical ventilation, with a total of 451. This represents just under a quarter of the deaths nationally and as shown throughout the rest of the world, cities are expected to be the worst affected. Mexico City has a population of 8.8 million, with the greater metropolitan area housing 21.6 million.

For the operation, the pit facilities will only be used for clinics to decide the seriousness of patients. While eight modules each with 24 beds were installed, totaling 192, as well as an extra 26 beds to be used for intensive care.