University Offers Facilities for COVID-19 use

Delaware State University stands ready to do its part in the COVID-19 pandemic by providing its infrastructure resources should the State of Delaware need them.

In an April 1 letter to Gov. John Carney, University President Tony Allen offered the use of the following structures:

• The Wellness and Recreation Center, as well as Memorial Hall Gymnasium, which both could be used as an alternate hospital sites for extra beds.
• The Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, which could be available for use as a storage site for medical supplies.
• The parking lot of the Bank of America Building, which could serve as a drive-up testing site.
• The Schwartz Center for the Arts in Downtown Dover, which could become a site for meetings or press conferences that require social distancing.
• The University’s Outreach and Research Center, a 200-acre farm facility in Smyrna, which could be the site of a field hospital or medical site.
• The Greater Wilmington Campus (formerly known as the DSU@Wilmington) on Kirkwood Highway, which could be used for the storage of medical supplies and its parking lot, for testing.

“In total, that equates to about 1.6 million square feet that could potentially be available to support the State by offering patient testing and/or care sites, storage facilities, and fulfill other needs that may arise as this situation progresses,” Dr. Allen wrote in his letter to Gov. Carney.

About 95% of the students and employees are currently not on campus due to the pandemic. Students are completing their spring semester online, while most employees are working from home.