Military field hospitals to set up in NYC, Seattle

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the Pentagon he has put five military field hospitals, with equipment and medical personnel, on "prepare-to-deploy" orders and expects two of them to go to Seattle and New York City this week.

"We will, of course, take our sourcing guidance from FEMA," Esper said.

"But right now, I anticipate sending a hospital to Seattle and a hospital to New York City. And beyond that, once that's confirmed, we will look at sending to other places."

Esper said it will still be weeks before the USNS Comfort arrives in New York City to take patients, so beds can be freed up at local hospitals, enabling them to better respond to patients infected with COVID-19.  But he told reporters that the USNS Mercy will deploy to Los Angeles this week.

As to the impact of the coronavirus on U.S. military readiness, Esper expressed confidence.

"As this virus ramps up and spreads, we'll obviously see more and more impact of persons in our ranks," he said.

"I'm confident that while it may have some impact on readiness, it will not affect our ability to conduct our national security missions both at home and abroad."

The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World  Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.