Navy readying hospital ships 'depending on need' to help with COVID-19 outbreak

By Mallory Shelbourne / March 18, 2020 at 1:36 PM

The Navy is preparing two of its hospital ships to aid in the coronavirus outbreak if needed, President Trump announced today.

In a press conference at the White House, Trump said the Navy is readying both the Mercy (T-AH-19) and the Comfort (T-AH-20).

The Mercy is based out of San Diego, CA, while the Comfort is based out of Naval Station Norfolk, VA.

The president misidentified the location of the Comfort, but said he spoke to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo about one ship heading up to New York. Trump also said he has yet to decide where on the West Coast he will send the other hospital ship.

"We haven't made the final determination as to where it's going to go on the West Coast. . . . We'll be picking the destination fairly shortly," Trump said. "So those two ships are being prepared to go and they can be launched over the next week or so -- depending on need."

In a statement to Inside Defense, a Navy spokesman confirmed the service is readying the two ships, which are both undergoing maintenance periods, but said the Mercy and Comfort will not be used to treat patients with coronavirus.

"The Navy is always ready to support Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) missions, and the USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) are preparing to provide possible DSCA support if called upon," Lt. Samuel Boyle said. "Both ships are currently working to complete scheduled maintenance cycles and identify necessary medical staffing to deploy as soon as possible."

"The Comfort and Mercy will not deploy to treat COVID patients, but will be made available to assist with treatment of other patients in coastal locations where local health professionals are necessarily focused on a large number of COVID cases." he added. "More information on the possible deployments of Comfort and Mercy will be announced once a firm timeline is established."

A Pentagon spokesman told reporters today the Navy is working to speed up the maintenance work on the Comfort in Norfolk, but said “that’s a weeks issue” for when it will be ready to deploy to New York.

“With regard to the Mercy, the Mercy will be prepared and ready to go much sooner,” chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said. “They’ve had a warning order to get ready for the last few days so they are hopefully going to be prepared to go in days, not weeks. But we’ll have more information . . . later at that point. When it is prepared to sail, we will make a determination on where it is going to go.”

Defense Secretary Mark Esper noted to reporters yesterday that the Navy's hospital ships are built for trauma rather than infectious diseases. The ships, Esper explained, could be used to relieve hospitals that need to care for individuals with infectious diseases by taking trauma patients.

206871