The prospect of coming down with the new coronavirus is not a happy one. You could be stuck in your house for weeks, and if you have family or roommates, they might get sick too. That’s why a Charlottesville man is planning to build an RV Park where folks can recover from COVID-19.
Oliver Kutner owns 157 acres on the James River near Lynchburg.
“You can go fishing. I don’t think you’d want to, but you could probably swim. It’s actually a very beautiful place,” he says.
He bought the old industrial site for a new business venture after winning the automotive X-Prize by designing a car that got more than 100 miles to the gallon. Now he’s turning his entrepreneurial energy to addressing COVID-19 and those who are not sick enough to require hospitalization.
"The problem is when you’re positive, most of us live in a family setting," he explains. "The last thing you want is to get your wife, your children, your grandma sick."
At a hotel, you’re also likely to spread the disease:
“The problem you have in hotels is they have a single air conditioning system. That they use a single hallway," he says. "They become cesspools of infection."
And there’s no one designated to look after you, so Kuttner decided to build an RV Park for those recovering from COVID-19.
“What we’re proposing here is to have a facility with up to 7,000 beds that is essentially comprised of rows and rows of campers and RVs."
He lounges at the dining room table in one 200-square-foot RV that’s already on site and surveys the living area complete with fireplace and media center.
“There’s a beautiful bedroom back here. This is nice. There’s a bathroom with a shower. We’re setting it up for unlimited hot water. This is not a bad place to be sick,” he concludes.
That’s important, he says, because we want to encourage sick people to separate from healthy ones, and he figures few of us would be lured away by a tent city set up by the National Guard.
“I just can’t visualize a nice outcome in a tent.” he admits.
With medical personnel on site, Kuttner also hopes residents won’t have to pay for their stay.
“This is a place that I would hope your insurance company would be willing to pay for you to go to if you want to protect your family. You know a typical hospital room would cost you $350 a night.”
So far Kuttner has purchased five RVs, but he claims he’ll buy more.
“I have lined up 250 RVs which we are buying, but we only have so much money, but if I can get volunteer RVs on top of it, that would be great!" he says. "At some point I hope that either a healthcare provider -- somebody like UVA or Sentara Health or the National Guard starts to support this, because we have to prepare while we can.”
The site has a building where meals could be made, plenty of electrical power and Internet, but Kuttner must install sewage and water lines, and a series of access paths for pedestrians and golf carts. The key, he says, is positioning the RVs to create virus free routes for caregivers.
"The doors face each other, and that becomes a contaminated walk," Kuttner explains. "The backs face each other, and there’s another walk there, and that becomes a clean walk. The clean walk you still wear protective gear, but that’s where you bring in the food. That’s where you go and check on the person."
And the developer says outdoor access would be encouraged for those who feel well enough.
"We have ample room for people to go for a walk, for people to have a campfire, for less sick people to not go completely nuts."
Kutner is accepting loaned RVs this weekend and would also welcome volunteer plumbers, electricians and construction workers to his COVID vacation village.
His property is at 1132 Mount Athos Road in Campbell County, and he can be reached by e-mail: oliver@edison2.com
