Crew member of hospital ship Comfort tests positive for coronavirus
The 1,000-bed ship arrived in New York last week to relieve pressure on local hospitals fighting the coronavirus by treating non-Covid patients.
A crew member aboard the hospital ship USNS Comfort docked in New York City tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, a Navy official confirmed to POLITICO.
The person is isolated from patients and other crew members, the official said, adding that the incident will not affect the Comfort’s ability to receive patients from the local community.
“The ship is following protocols and taking every precaution to ensure the health and safety of all crew members and patients on board,” the official said.
The 1,000-bed ship arrived in New York last week to relieve pressure on local hospitals fighting the coronavirus by treating non-Covid patients. Defense Department officials stressed that the military’s twin hospital ships — the Comfort and the USNS Mercy, now parked off of Los Angeles — are not configured to treat infectious diseases.
But after receiving only a handful of non-Covid patients last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that President Donald Trump had approved his request to allow the Comfort to treat people suffering from coronavirus.
A spokesperson for 2nd Fleet said the Comfort will accept “trauma, emergency and urgent care patients without regard to their COVID status.”
“The ability to take COVID-19 patients on board USNS Comfort provides increased capability to care for high severity COVID-positive cases, allowing the Javits New York Medical Station to focus on lower severity COVID-positive patients,” the spokesperson said.