Mercy arrives in LA; Comfort to NYC

The Navy dispatched its San Diego-based 1,000-bed hospital ship, USNS Mercy, on March 23. The ship’s destination is the Port of Los Angeles to take the burden off area medical facilities that are scrambling to cope with the coronavirus. Mercy is scheduled to arrive at the port within the week after conducting required tests and certifications at sea. The hospital ship will not be treating coronavirus patients, but rather will function as a “relief valve” for LA-area hospitals by accepting patient transfers with other illnesses. The goal is to free up capacity at the civilian hospitals to treat patients with the coronavirus. The ship will have 1,128 personnel - including some 60 reservists - as part of its treatment facility, in addition to support staff operating onboard and land. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will coordinate with hospitals to enable patient transfers. would bring surgical capabilities with multiple operating rooms. The bulk of personnel manning the ship are coming from Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms, Calif., and Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash., Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Health Clinic Oak Harbor, Wash., officials said. Most are active-duty, apart from nearly 60 reservists. The Baltimore-based hospital ship USNS Comfort won’t arrive in New York City for three to four weeks, as it is undergoing maintenance. In the meantime, DoD is dispatching an Army field hospital to NYC, which should have about 248 beds. The Army Corps of Engineers is assisting FEMA in converting area facilities there into makeshift hospitals. (Source: Washington Post 03/23/20) Gulf Coast Note: Personnel to sail with Comfort will likely come from NMC Portsmouth, Va., and Bethesda, Md. In past deployments of Comfort, personnel from NH Jacksonville, and NH Pensacola, Fla., and its branch clinics in Louisiana and Mississippi, have sailed with the ship. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-navy-hospital-ship-heads-to-los-angeles-as-pandemic-spreads/2020/03/23/3210b6b0-6d39-11ea-96a0-df4c5d9284af_story. About 140 Navy Reserve sailors - in addition to about 1,200 ACDU personnel - will report to USNS Comfort on the East Coast within the next few days, DoD officials announced March 25. UPDATE: USNS Mercy arrived in the Port of Los Angeles on March 27 to support the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts.