Outbreak Turns Stadiums Into Hospitals and Food Pantries

With sports shut down worldwide, venues start serving the public

by Andy Markowitz, AARP, April 20, 2020

a masked and gloved worker helps load a crate of supplies from the world central kitchen outside nationals park in washington dc

The Washington Post/Getty Images

World Central Kitchen employee Elyssa Kaplan unloads meals outside Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. The home of the World Series champion Washington Nationals is being used as a community kitchen during the coronavirus pandemic.

En español | Nationals Park would have been rocking this week, as throngs of cheering baseball fans watched the defending champion Washington Nationals host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game rematch of last year's thrilling National League Division Series.

Would have been, if not for the coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down spectator sports around the globe.

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But while it's devoid of baseball, Nationals Park is not silent. In partnership with the team, World Central Kitchen (WCK), the charity founded by chef José Andrés, has turned the 41,313-seat stadium into a community kitchen where workers prepare and distribute thousands of meals a day for local seniors and families struggling amid the outbreak.

With their large unused spaces and empty parking lots, dormant sports venues worldwide are being drafted into duty as field hospitals, COVID-19 testing facilities, food banks, even a staging ground for temporary morgues. Here's a look at how some other renowned sites are being repurposed to help communities deal with the health and economic impacts of the pandemic.

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PHOTO BY: Rob Carr/Getty Images

A car pulls into a mobile coronavirus testing site at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore, where the Preakness Stakes has been run in mid-May for more than a century. The second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown has been postponed to an as-yet-undetermined date later this year.
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PHOTO BY: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Volunteers fill cartons with groceries on the concourse of Wrigley Field in Chicago. The home of the Cubs is serving as a satellite distribution center for Lakeview Pantry as the food charity works to meet a spike in demand.
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PHOTO BY: Marcello Zambrana/AP Images

Pacaembu Stadium on the outskirts of São Paulo, which is used by four of Brazil's top-tier soccer clubs, has been converted into a field hospital, treating COVID-19 patients in the region of the country hardest-hit by the disease.
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PHOTO BY: Kirby Lee/AP Images

A sign directs motorists to a drive-thru coronavirus testing site set up on one of the satellite parking lots at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
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PHOTO BY: Ben Birchall/PA Wire/AP Images

A masked workman builds scaffolding for a temporary hospital at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. A 2,000-bed treatment center opened April 20 at the 74,500-seat venue, where the Welsh national soccer and rugby teams play.
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PHOTO BY: Darron Cummings/AP Images

Midwest Food Bank and the Salvation Army turned Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, into a distribution warehouse on April 17. Volunteers joined Indiana National Guard members and stadium workers to pack 10,000 food boxes for Indiana families in need.
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PHOTO BY: Michael Nigro/AP Images

Workers at Icahn Stadium, a track and field complex on Randalls Island in New York, build shelving for dozens of refrigerated trailers that will serve as overflow morgues for city hospitals.
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PHOTO BY: NICOLAS REMENE/Getty Images

Health care workers practice social distancing while attending the opening of a triage and management center for COVID-19 patients at Seyni Kountché soccer stadium in Niamey, Niger.
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PHOTO BY: Sipa USA / Alamy Stock Photo

Indoor training facilities at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York, site of the U.S. Open, have been converted into hospital wards for people with COVID-19.