Seattle-area officials buy $4 million `quarantine’ motel – By Gene Johnson (Associated Press) / March 5 2020
SEATTLE (AP) — Hard surfaces, easy-to-clean floors and separate heating-and-cooling units in each room: The amenities offered by the suburban EconoLodge motel may not be fancy, but they were just what Seattle-area officials say they were looking for in a quarantine facility for coronavirus patients.
© Provided by Associated Press A U.S. flag flies near the entrance of an Econo Lodge motel in Kent, Wash., Wednesday, March 4, 2020. King County Executive Dow Constantine said Wednesday that the county had purchased the 85-bed motel south of Seattle to house patients for recovery and isolation due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Officials in King County, which is dealing with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, announced this week that it is buying the motel for $4 million. The deal is expected to close on Friday and officials hope to have the first patients in within days.
But not everyone is putting out the welcome mat.
The EconoLodge is a two-story, 84-room motel just off a state highway in Kent, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Seattle. The rooms’ doors open to the outside, rather than to a central hallway, reducing the likelihood of contact between the patients. The individual heating-and-cooling units reduce the chance of germs spreading through a ventilation system.
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