1,000-bed military hospital ship arrives in New York

A 1,000-bed military hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, arrived in New York Harbor on Monday morning. It must help relieve the city’s hospitals facing an influx of coronavirus patients, AFP noted.

This ship, equipped with twelve operating theaters and 1,200 caregivers, must accommodate patients requiring intensive care not linked to the virus, in order to allow hospitals to focus on Covid-19 patients.

Mayor Bill de Blasio welcomed the arrival of this boat, scheduled for March 18. “The fact that the Navy is there, that the Army is there to help New York at a time when our city is in need, is very important,” he said on CNN, as the boat was entering Manhattan Harbor.

“For the people of the city who have been through a lot in recent weeks, it lifts their spirits. It is very moving for all of us, we need help,” he added.

New York City, the epicenter of the epidemic in the United States with more than 33,000 cases and 776 deaths, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, is also due to open an emergency hospital in the center of Javits Center lectures. Four other sites across the city have been approved to offload hospitals, overwhelmed in recent days by the influx of patients.

ats, afp

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