Secretary of Defense Mark Esper revealed to the press Tuesday that the Pentagon has initiated the process of activating two Navy hospital ships — one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast — to help with the federal coronavirus response.
“We’ve already given orders to the Navy… to lean forward in terms of getting them ready to deploy,” Sec. Esper told reporters Tuesday, as reported by U.S. Naval Institute News.
The two hospital ships that have begun activation are USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), which are homeported at Naval Station San Diego, CA, and Naval Station Norfolk, VA, respectively, and both have a 1,000 bed-capacity.
Activating the hospital ships, Sec. Esper explained, will help “take the pressure off of civilian hospitals when it comes to trauma cases, to open up civilian hospital rooms for infectious diseases.”
“The ships will now begin the several days-long process of bringing aboard medical staff and equipment ahead of deploying along the East and West coasts, a defense official confirmed to USNI News on Tuesday afternoon,” the outlet reported. To fully mobilize personnel takes a week or more, officials say. – READ MORE
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