With New York currently in the lead with the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the country, a Navy hospital ship will be coming to New York harbor to help alleviate a shortage of hospital beds.
On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed that President Donald Trump is sending the USNS Comfort to New York harbor to increase health care capacity, CNN reported.
A converted oil tanker, the 70,000-ton USNS Comfort has 1,000 beds and 12 operating rooms, though those numbers fall far short of the 55,000 to to 110,000 hospital beds Cuomo has predicted will be needed when the illness reaches its peak, according to CBS.
While the ship is being sent to alleviate hospital overcrowding due to the growing number of coronavirus cases, two sources told USNI news that the ships would take on non-coronavirus patients in order to free up mainland hospital beds for those infected with the virus.
Speaking to NBC Today, Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the need for military aid in the nation’s fight against coronavirus.
“There are American military officers right now still building a wall at the southern border when all they should be doing domestically is addressing coronavirus. We need their medical resources, their logistical know-how. We need them to help ensure that food and medicine moves around this country and our supply chain is not disrupted,” he said.
“Right now we’re in the midst of a crisis we have not seen for generations … and yet the American military is being sidelined when they should be given the chance to get in this game and help us all.”
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