Coronavirus: Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds set to arrive in NYC amid crisis

To combat the increasing number of cases of novel coronavirus pandemic each day, the USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds, 12 operating rooms, and a full medical staff, is scheduled to arrive in New York City on March 30. The crews on the West Side pier had been preparing over the weekend for its arrival. Several city agencies have worked together to deepen the area in which the hospital ship can be docked.

Owing to the growing number of cases, the medical ship will be used to treat the non-coronavirus patients, to free up space in city hospitals and to deal with the outbreak. The death toll of the city witnessed a spike in cases to 1,000 on March 29. The state has accounted for over 40 percent of coronavirus deaths in the US, and most of the cases have been in New York City itself. President Trump bid farewell to the hopital ship on March 28 which was bound for New York City.

Chris Singleton, a spokesman for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, reportedly said that several city agencies, including New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Office of Emergency Management, have been carrying out the excavation at Manhattan Cruise Terminal’s Pier 90, where the navy ship will dock, to ensure there is sufficient depth in the slip. 

Read: 68-bed Field Hospital Being Constructed In New York City's Central Park For Coronavirus Patients

Read: New York State Surpasses 1,000 Coronavirus Deaths

While addressing the people in Norfolk, president Trump gave a detailed account of the navy ship and said that this great ship is a 70,000-ton message of hope and solidarity to the incredible people of New York, a place that is close to the heart of Trump. The government is working tirelessly to fight the deadly virus. Before saluting the fully loaded ship farewell from the pier, Trump praised the 1,200 medical staff aboard as the military's "greatest weapon" in the pandemic response.

Read: New York City’s Poorer Neighborhoods Hit Hardest By Virus

Read: Coronavirus Outbreak Pushes Ambulance Services In New York Close To Breaking Point

A field hospital in NYC

Apart from this, a 68-bed field hospital will be constructed by March 31 in the city’s iconic Central Park to help enhance New York City's medical capacity to treat the rapidly increasing coronavirus cases. Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on March 29 that Mount Sinai Hospital, working with a relief organization named Samaritan's Purse, is creating the 68-bed field hospital in the sprawling Central Park.

Crews started construction of the long, white medical tents in the park's East Meadow lawn. The field hospital has been specially designed as a respiratory care unit. New York has become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US and the state passed a grim milestone of recording 1,000 deaths due to the COVID19 pandemic on March 29.