More than 14,000 people have now been hospitalized in New York City for COVID-19. But two large overflow facilities have been operating far below their capacity.
The USNS Comfort hospital ship, which is docked at a Manhattan pier, is adjusting its procedures to accept patients more quickly. The ship is intended to accept non-coronavirus referrals from New York hospitals.The USNS Comfort hospital ship, which is docked at a Manhattan pier, is adjusting its procedures to accept patients more quickly. The ship is intended to accept non-coronavirus referrals from New York hospitals.
I will ask the federal government to allow the USNS Comfort to treat COVID patients to serve as a relief valve for our stressed hospital system.Both of the overflow hospitals were initially intended to serve only non-coronavirus patients. But the Javits Center was repurposed late last week to start accepting COVID-19 patients — and the hospital ship is no longer requiring a negative COVID-19 test prior to admission.
"We have the ability right now to separate those patients," the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Patrick Amersbach, told NPR on Sunday."We have multiple wards and they aren't full right now, so it's very easy to move populations around as needed to make sure we don't mix the two." The tweaks some as health officials scramble to respond to a crisis that has resulted in some 2,500 deaths from the contagious respiratory disease in New York City.
Even before the policy change, every patient admitted to the Comfort was tested for the virus. Over the weekend at least two patients on-board tested positive, despite not showing symptoms of COVID-19 before they came aboard. One was discharged to another hospital on land, and one is still being treated in isolation on-board the ship, according to Amersbach.
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