A U.S. Navy hospital ship docked in New York will change its process for screening patients after a report claimed that just 20 people are being treated on the vessel, according to the Pentagon.
The Department of Defense added that “screening for care on the USNS Comfort will be modified and will now occur pier-side in an effort to reduce the backlog at some of the nearby New York hospitals.”
The assistance will allow local hospital and ambulance systems to function more efficiently and focus on more serious COVID-19 patients.
“We will immediately implement this action and work with local officials in each area on the details of patient arrival,” the Pentagon said.
The USNS Comfort was sent to New York City, the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, to free up capacity in city hospitals to focus on treating COVID-19 patients.
On Thursday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the temporary hospital facility at the Javits Convention Center, which holds 2,500 beds, will treat virus patients.
“Having the Comfort here is a very, very important thing for New York City in terms of the number of patients served, but also an extraordinary morale boost when we needed it,” de Blasio added. “I don’t have a doubt in my mind, the Comfort will be filled up soon.”
The way in which the ship is being used drew criticism from New York hospital officials.
Meanwhile, at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), hospitals built by the Army Corps of Engineers at convention centers in New York, New Orleans, and Dallas will now treat CCP virus patients, the Pentagon also said. The patients must first be treated at a local hospital and will “require a lower level of medical care,” it said.
“We understand that introducing COVID-19 positive patients into the [Federal Medical Station] environments elevates the risk of transmission to other patients and our medical providers,” the news release said. “This decision was risk-informed and made to ensure that DoD can continue to provide these local communities the type of medical care they most need. Force health protection is a top priority and our medical professionals will have the required personal protective equipment needed for this mission.”