OLYMPIA – A military field hospital set up in recent weeks at the CenturyLink exhibition center will be sent elsewhere because Washington apparently won’t need it.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced today the mobile field hospital, which was to handle non-COVID-19 cases to free up beds in existing hospitals, is being returned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency “so it can be deployed to another state facing a more significant need.”

It’s the second time in a week an emergency hospital operation offered to Washington by the federal government is being sent back. The state said over the weekend a 300-bed mobile hospital that was never set up was being redeployed.

Inslee said Tuesday Washington will have adequate hospital capacity without that facility, and the need is greater elsewhere.

“I feel confident about this. If not, I would not have made this decision,” he said.

That confidence, however, is based on the state continuing to use “social distancing” and on that practice successfully curbing the outbreak.

The CenturyLink hospital was set up with much fanfare as COVID-19 cases were starting to mount in Seattle-area hospitals. Inslee and local officials gathered there on March 27 to mark the arrival of the 150-bed operation, to be staffed by 300 soldiers from the 627th Army Hospital at Fort Carson, Colorado.

At the time, it was described as the beginning of efforts to expand hospital capacity in the state.

In announcing the redeployment of the mobile hospital, Inslee warned it did not signal an end to precautions needed against the pandemic, including school closures and the stay-home order for nonessential workers

“Don’t let this decision give you the impression that we are out of the woods,” he said in a news release. “We haven’t beat this virus yet, and until we do it has the potential to spread rapidly if we don’t continue the measures we’ve put in place.”

The state also purchased equipment, including beds and ventilators, to support existing hospitals if there is a surge in COVID-19 cases. It also has a lease on a former medical center in Yakima that can support 250 patients if needed for a surge in Central Washington.