UK Building 400-Bed Field Hospital at Nutter Fieldhouse to Aid Pandemic Response

Nutter Field House, the University of Kentucky's football practice and indoor track and field facility, will be turned into a field hospital to aid in the coronavirus pandemic response. 

Per John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky announced it will construct a 400-bed field hospital that will be operational in two weeks to prepare for a potential surge in patients who may contract the virus.

Per Kentucky's official athletic website, Nutter Field House's artificial turf football field is 108,000 square feet and is surrounded by a 290-meter track that is six lanes wide.

The total venue measures 132,000 square feet with storage areas, office space, a lobby, locker rooms, and observation areas. 

Ty Borders, the director of UK’s Rural and Underserved Health Research Center, told Bill Wright and Will Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader last month that he's "pretty concerned" because rural hospitals in Kentucky "don’t have the capacity to handle a large surge in the number of severe cases that require hospitalization.”

Per CNN.com, there have been 770 diagnosed cases of coronavirus in Kentucky. 

Nutter Field House was dedicated in 1993 and has hosted the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships seven times.