President Donald Trump traveled to a naval base in Virginia Saturday to see off the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship loaned out by the U.S. Navy for deployment in the COVID-19 response effort.
Trump said he was looking forward to the pending departure of the ship to New York, the hot-zone of the nation’s fight against the CCP virus.
“Who would ever think 151 countries are under attack,” Trump said of the outbreak.
“We are one family bound together by love and loyalty, the eternal traits so perfectly embodied by the extraordinary men and women aboard this ship,” the president said of Comfort, which holds over 1,000 beds and will transport over 1,200 medical staff to help New York cope with the COVID-19 crisis.
The president said the ship would be departing ahead of schedule, adding that “it is loaded up with everything, so that’s great.”
Trump shared a photo of the ship on Twitter earlier, saying it was “loaded to the gills.”
Earlier, the White House announced in a release that Trump would travel to Norfolk on Saturday “to bid bon voyage to the hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) as it leaves for New York City to the frontlines of the COVID-19 virus response. The USNS Comfort will sail well ahead of its originally scheduled departure time to answer America’s call to battle against the global pandemic here at home.”
“With the courage of our doctors, and nurses, with the skill of our scientists and innovators, with the determination of the American people, and with the grace of God, we will win this war and we will win this war quickly with as little death as possible,” Trump said.
The president and Defense Secretary Mark Esper then watched the ship set sail.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday the number of COVID-19 cases there climbed to 52,318 and deaths to 728.
“We have been behind this virus from day one. We are waiting to see what the virus does,” Cuomo said at a news conference. “You don’t win on defense. You win on offense. You have to get ahead of this.”
Cuomo also said Trump had approved the construction of four additional temporary hospital sites in New York City, adding 4,000 hospital beds.