The Navy’s twin hospital ships have treated fewer than 20 patients as coronavirus battle rages

The Comfort, which arrived in New York City on Monday from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, received its first patient on Wednesday. Thus far, the Comfort has treated a total of three patients.

The latest revelation came Thursday as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state is at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, reported a total of 92,381 coronavirus cases so far.

When asked why the vessels hadn’t received more referrals given the capacity of each ship, U.S. Navy Capt. Patrick Amersbach, the commanding officer of the USNS Comfort, said he could not speculate if there was a delay and what the reason might be. 

“The process continues and we are honestly looking forward to seeing a significant increase in patients being transferred to the Comfort,” he said, adding that each patient must be referred to the vessel by a local hospital.

The twin vessels, currently tasked to receive non-coronavirus patients, may deploy to other coastal cities, such as New Orleans, as coronavirus cases around the nation rise.

“We’re in a constant state of readiness to do whatever mission that our higher officials ask of us. So, the issue of us when relocating would just be providing a safe disposition for all the patients that are currently on board the ship. And once we accomplish that we could leave in fairly short order,” Rotruck said, adding that the movement would be at the direction of FEMA.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-navys-hospital-ships-have-treated-fewer-than-20-patients.html