Faced with the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak on St. Croix—an island with limited health care infrastructure—the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw a federal effort to rapidly deliver an alternate care facility to ensure that severely ill and infectious patients would have access to appropriate treatments.

鉴于立即需求，兵团呼吁Conti联邦服务设计，并将现有的国民卫队营房转化为48床急性护理设施 - 仅22天。

Conti项目高管Patrick Hogan表示，该项目的关键任务性质有助于推动团队并推动其供应商提供。“Col..Hibner [Usace Savannah区的指挥官]下来并给出了一个关于这个使命的歌剧演讲，“他回忆道。“我们留下了漂亮的抽水，在22天内做不到的。”

To say that the project team for the new COVID-19 Alternate Care Facility on St. Croix went the extra mile would be an understatement. To expedite delivery of the project in the U.S. Virgin Islands, regular flights—often on small aircraft—were required to bring in workers and materials from the U.S. mainland, Puerto Rico and other neighboring islands.

在该项目期间，材料必须通过购买美国法案并尽管旅行限制从美国大陆运输。Hogan指出，由于供应短缺，该团队随时尽力使用“现成”材料。在某些情况下，特定设备来自由于Covid锁定而关闭的工厂。Hogan表示，即使它意味着重新打开他们的商店，Conti也呼吁其值得信赖的供应商提供。

照片由Pat Hogan，Courtesy Conti Federal Services

Skids for the water pumps needed to be manufactured for the job, so Hogan says he called on a supplier who bought workers back into the shop to build the skids. “The guy had his people build it in one day,” Hogan says. “He drove it himself down to Trenton [N.J.] airport and they put it on a C-130 [airplane].”

简约的设计、交付方法下,designers worked sometimes around the clock to address project needs. The most technically complex element was the HVAC system, which required constant negative air pressure to isolate infectious patients from other patients and staff. With only 30 hours remaining until the official ribbon-cutting, testing of the negative air pressure showed a need to add additional HVAC duct to several rooms. “It just so happened that a warehouse in St. Thomas had 12 of them, so we sent a Cessna over to pick it up,” Hogan says.

照片由Pat Hogan，Courtesy Conti Federal Services

该团队试图在可能的情况下重用现有设备。作业开始时，备用电源发生器不起作用;但是，该团队能够在波多黎各找到必要的备件，并将它们飞向网站。现有的防火系统也没有工作，需要完全更换。其中一些升级也必须旨在忍受5类飓风风和地震活动。

岛上的劳动力有限，只有10％的工人来自圣克罗克斯，距离波多黎各等10％。剩下的80％来自美国大陆飞行。住房也有限，所以CORI达到了岛上的诉工，以便在工人上。餐馆也在更快，所以球队联系了当地的厨师，准备迎合餐饮餐，为工人带来。

Because Conti Federal was flying personnel in and out of St. Croix at a time when infrastructure, such as Customs and Border Protection, were being restricted, Conti Federal engaged with the U.S. Virgin Islands Dept. of Health to develop a COVID-19 assessment program. The team followed the department’s COVID-19 protocols and invited the department to monitor the team on site.

照片由Pat Hogan，Courtesy Conti Federal Services

The contractor then implemented a detailed COVID-19 preparedness and response plan that established safe working guidelines for all team members. Worker protections included engineering controls, administrative controls, safe work practices, awareness training and personal protective equipment.
此外，每个人员都使用了自己的一组工具 - 定期消毒 - 没有在船员之间分享。每个房间都需要最小化物质处理和船员运动所需的数量。

Although crews often had to work long shifts, safety protocols were strictly enforced and there were no lost-time accidents or OSHA recordable incidents.
在现场的工人或工作人员中也没有Covid-19爆发。尽管有挑战，但640万美元的项目达到了特派团，在2020年5月8日按时完成。