New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a briefing late Wednesday morning that President Donald Trump is dispatching the USNS Comfort to New York Harbor.
A short time later Trump said both the Comfort and USNS Mercy would be “launched in the next week or so” to help in what the president called the “war against the Chinese virus.”
“They’re getting ready to come up to New York. He’s [Cuomo] excited about it,” Trump said.
The president said the Comfort currently is berthed in San Diego. In fact, the Comfort is at its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia. The Mercy is in San Diego. “We will be picking the destination shortly” for the West Coast ship, Trump said.
In a letter Tuesday, four members of Congress from New York asked Trump to deploy the Comfort to New York City to relieve hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus cases. The ship reportedly would be used for patients not infected with the coronavirus.
“We write to ask that you immediately ready the naval hospital ship USNS Comfort, currently being refitted in Norfolk, VA for deployment to New York City in support of our city’s fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic,” the lawmakers wrote to Trump and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday.
The letter from Rep. Max Rose and signed by Reps. Nydia Velazquez, Jose Serrano and Tom Suozzi said the Comfort contains 12 fully equipped operating rooms, 1,000 hospital beds, laboratory facilities and an oxygen-producing plant.
The lawmakers said the Comfort has been deployed to crisis zones around the world, including Puerto Rico in 2017, and has treated more than 550,000 disaster victims.
To continue reading this article...
Already have an account? Sign In
Create a Free Account
No payment required
Sweepers sweepers man your brooms
That’s a boiler ship , where are you going to get a boiler tech? Japan