MADISON, Wis (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- UW Health leading doctors say the hospital has plans in place for an election surge in COVID-19 patients.

Chief Quality and Safety Officer Dr. Jeff Potoff says if the University hospital becomes taxed or overburdened by high volume, UW Health will look for other nearby campus-owned medical facilities like the American Center on the city’s east side.

"For the most part, it [The American Center] is heavily focused on those non-urgent, non-emergent procedures, so we’ve been able  to create a significant capacity at The American Center," Dr. Potoff said. "That’s a location where we could house many COVID-19 patients if we needed to; we have the ability to bring up many ICU level beds at that facility."

But should demand stretch further,  Dane County preparing the Alliant Energy Center.  Dr. Potoff says campus gyms, parking garages and medical tents could all become real possibilities for worst-case scenarios.    

"We have thought about that what that, would look like, crazy high numbers of patients would look like, and we’ve got plans for that," Dr. Potoff said.

Planning for these tiered responses went into place in February before COVID-19 was even classified as a pandemic. 

Presently, UW Health staff members are volunteering or in some specialties, re-deploying for specific COVID-19 related efforts.