A field hospital at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus is scheduled to start taking patients today, helping to ease the need for open beds and reduce the burden on health care workers.

A variety of health care professionals and Army National Guard personnel were seen going in and out of the building. Inside, workers are setting up beds, a nurse's station and a pharmacy.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked with FEMA to get everything ready. The state says the field hospital is not intended for patients with coronavirus. Patients are expected to start arriving later today from hospitals throughout the region.

Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli says field hospitals such as this one is important, as local hospital ICUs are being pushed to max capacity.

"Any way we can relieve the pressure that's going on in the hospitals,” says Mayor Gonnelli. “Let me tell you, their backs are to the walls. Any way we can relieve that pressure by having this hospital here it would be great."

Another field hospital is coming to the Atlantic City Convention Center, and is expected to be ready by April 14. The fourth location has not been publicly announced.