Letter to the Hon. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States - Rose Leads Call for Navy to Deploy Hospital Ship to NYC to Increase Treatment Capacity

Letter

Mr. President,

We write to ask that you immediately ready the naval hospital ship USNS Comfort, currently being refitted in Norfolk, VA for deployment to New York City in support of our city's fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

New York is more at risk from coronavirus than any other state. New York has had 950 diagnosed cases of coronavirus, with seven fatalities. And as our nation's most populous city and financial hub, New York City is most at risk for a severe outbreak of coronavirus of any place in America. With a population of over 8 million, it is clear that our efforts to contain and treat coronavirus must focus around New York City. Our hospital systems have raised the alarm that we are in danger in the near future of overwhelming their capacity for treatment beds.

Deploying the USNS Comfort to New York City is an appropriate step given the severity of this crisis and the ship's expertise dealing with national emergencies. The Comfort contains 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, 1,000 hospital beds, laboratory facilities, and an oxygen-producing plant. Comfort has deployed to crisis zones around the world, including Puerto Rico in 2017 and most recently to Central and South America. The Comfort has treated more than 550,000 disaster victims to date and has the opportunity to help many more if deployed to New York City.

Given the contagious nature of coronavirus, we suggest that the hospital facilities aboard the USNS Comfort be used to treat non-coronavirus patients and reduce the capacity of hospitals ashore. Naval personnel can also supply and assist operations onshore while using the ships as a clean operating base for relief services.

New York City has always been proud to host the Navy during Fleet Week, and many of our constituents are Navy personnel and veterans themselves. The sight of Navy hospital ships in New York harbor, ready to assist our own frontline healthcare providers, will be a welcome one indeed. As always, we are confident that the Navy will rise to the occasion when called upon by our nation, and we thank you in advance for your assistance.