At the urging of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, President Trump made the USNS Comfort that’s docked in NYC available for COVID-19 patients:
#BREAKING: I spoke to the president and he has agreed to our request to treat #COVID patients on the USNS Comfort.
This means 1,000 additional beds staffed by federal personnel.
This will provide much-needed relief to our over stressed hospital systems.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 6, 2020
Originally the ship supposed to only serve as overflow for NYC’s swamped hospitals, but “flexibility” was needed:
Trump says he’s granting Gov Cuomo’s request to use the USNS Comfort for COVID patients, which the military had initially said the ship was not designed for. But flexibility needed, so the plan is changing.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 6, 2020
But we do wonder if that will change now that one of the crewmembers has tested positive for COVID-19:
First crew member aboard hospital ship Comfort in NY tests positive for Covid-19, Navy says
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) April 7, 2020
That crewmember is now quarantined, as are others he/she came in contact with, but as we saw with cruise ships and the USS Theodore Roosevelt, this is not an ideal situation:
New: Crewmember of the USNS Comfort has tested positive for Coronavirus and has been isolated from patients & crew. “There is no impact to Comfort’s mission,” says @USNavy spokesperson.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 7, 2020
We’ll keep you posted:
A crew member aboard the Navy hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort tested positive for the coronavirus, and several others have gone into isolation, the Navy said https://t.co/TQO9qHjrMI
— erin mccann | (@mccanner) April 7, 2020
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