The U.S. Department of Defense has opened the hospital ship USNS Comfort to patients with COVID-19 in order to relieve pressure on New York area hospitals, the Northern Command announced.
In addition, the Department of Defense is adjusting its medical support efforts to better assist the people of New York by immediately directing the USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) to admit patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.
The USNS Comfort will be able to handle trauma, emergency and urgent care patients without regard to their COVID-19 status. The Javits Center, now named the Javits New York Medical Station, continues to be DoD’s primary facility for COVID-19 patients.
The Javits New York Medical Station and USNS Comfort together act as an integrated system working inside the larger New York City medical system
… the statement highlights.
As the USNS Comfort will provide increased capability to assist high severity COVID-19 cases, the Javits New York Medical Station will be able to handle lower severity COVID-positive cases.
According to the live map, the US has been struggling with an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases, having 399,929 confirmed cases up to today, April 8.
