Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies is frustrated.

He feels as if his pleas for help in implementing what seems to be a reasonable and wise plan are falling on deaf ears.

Davies wants state officials to reopen East Ohio Regional Hospital as Ohio prepares to deal with a surge in COVID-19 patients.

The 140-bed health care facility closed last September. The decision came from its parent company, California-based Alecto Healthcare Services, as it also moved to close Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling. The company reportedly was losing millions of dollars by operating those local hospitals, in large part due to the poor physical condition of OVMC in Wheeling.

That simply was not the case with EORH.

The physical plant itself appeared to be in very good shape when Alecto closed its doors. The facility was always very clean with modern equipment and amenities.

It operated a couple of other medical clinics in the area and was home to the only federally funded black lung treatment program in the region.

Since September, however, it has stood largely empty at the north end of Fourth Street in the Purple City.

Only a handful of employees of the records department have continued to come and go.

Now, the novel coronavirus is spreading across the nation, the state and our local region. As of Saturday, 3,739 Ohioans had been infected, including 17 in Belmont County.

So far in the Buckeye State, more than 25 percent of patients have needed to be hospitalized. Many of them have needed intensive care. As the case load grows, both statewide and locally, our hospital systems are going to become strained.

Davies is right that EORH may have an important role to play in the treatment and recovery of many people.

We have seen images of parking garages filled with hospital beds.

We have heard that dorm rooms and hotels may be tapped for bed space at the height of the infection.

Why not make use of a building that was literally designed for that purpose?

We believe Davies is right. Health care and government leaders who are planning and implementing the response to this threat should take a close look at the facility and its obvious potential.

We urge Gov. Mike DeWine, Dr. Amy Acton of the Ohio Department of Health and their colleagues to find a way to work with the hospital’s owners to ensure this resource is available if it becomes needed.