The USNS Mercy has departed San Diego to assist hospitals in Los Angeles strained from the coronavirus outbreak. NBC 7’s Bridget Naso reports.
A San Diego-based Navy hospital ship will treat non-coronavirus patients in Los Angeles to relieve local hospitals amid the area's surge of coronavirus patients, President Trump said Sunday.
USNS Mercy -- one of the Navy's two 1,000-bed hospital ships -- departed from Naval Station San Diego on Monday, March 23. Over 800 Navy medical personnel and support staff, and more than 70 civil service mariners will be aboard the ship.
"The ship will serve as a referral hospital for non-COVID-19 patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals, and will provide a full spectrum of medical care to include critical and urgent care for adults," the U.S. Navy said.
Mercy's support will allow local hospitals to focus on treating COVID-19 patients with their intensive care units and ventilators, according to the Navy.
"The Department of Defense has been given direction to dispatch it to Los Angeles immediately. DOD has advised Mercy can get into position within a week or less of today’s order,” FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor said Sunday.
"We are honored to answer the call in this time of need," said Rear Admiral Tim Weber on Monday. "We are as the Mercy says, 'Steaming to Assist.'"
Though Mercy’s primary mission is to provide an acute surgical medical facility to the U.S. military to support expeditionary warfare, its secondary mission is to provide full hospital services to support U.S. disaster relief and humanitarian operations worldwide, the Navy said.
"Enthusiasm is very high for this mission. This is exactly what Navy medicine trains to do and we are ready to execute," said Captain John Rotruck, Commanding Officer of USNS Mercy's Medical Treatment Facility.
The Navy is also taking proactive measures to ensure patients coming aboard do not have COVID-19, Rotruck said.
As for the arrival date, the Navy said Mercy would be ready for service in Los Angeles sometime this week.
Governor Gavin Newsom had called on the President to send the ship to the Port of Los Angeles. The ship was possibly headed to Seattle prior to the announcement.
"Even though there are more cases right now in Washington, the projected need for beds in California is five times more that of Washington," Gaynor added.
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Aerial view of the Hospital ship USNS Mercy docked at Naval Base San Diego on March 20, 2020 in San Diego, California. California (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
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The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) takes on supplies, March 20, 2020, at Naval Base San Diego. (Photo by Sarah Burford-U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
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The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) takes on supplies, March 20, 2020, at Naval Base San Diego. (Photo by Sarah Burford-U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mike Jones - U.S. Navy via Getty Images
Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Ashlee McCasland, Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Jonathan Shaw and Senior Chief Master-at-Arms Lou Canton prepare pallets of supplies to be loaded aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) at Naval Base San Diego, March 21, 2020. (Photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mike Jones – U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
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Steve King, a Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest forklift driver, prepares to deliver pallets during a supply load aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) at Naval Base San Diego, March 21, 2020. (Photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mike Jones – U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mike Jones - U.S. Navy via Getty Images
Steve King, a Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest forklift driver, prepares to deliver pallets during a supply load aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) at Naval Base San Diego, March 21, 2020. (Photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mike Jones – U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David Mora Jr.
Rear Adm. Timothy Weber, commander of Naval Medical Forces Pacific, speaks to members of the press before the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) departs Naval Base San Diego, March 23, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David Mora Jr./Released)
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LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 27: USNS Mercy arrived in the Port of Los Angeles, United States on March 27, 2020 at 8:40 A.M. Her mission is to provide relief for Southern California hospitals should they be overrun with coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. The men and women serving on the ship will remain onboard during the duration of this deployment. No one is allowed on or off the ship except for patients transferred for care. (Photo by Neal Waters/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 27: USNS Mercy arrived in the Port of Los Angeles, United States on March 27, 2020 at 8:40 A.M. Her mission is to provide relief for Southern California hospitals should they be overrun with coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. The men and women serving on the ship will remain onboard during the duration of this deployment. No one is allowed on or off the ship except for patients transferred for care. (Photo by Neal Waters/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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SAN PEDRO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 27: A woman watches from shore as the USNS Mercy Navy hospital ship arrives in the Port of Los Angeles to assist with the coronavirus pandemic on March 27, 2020 in San Pedro, California. The ship holds 1,000 beds which will be used to treat non-coronavirus patients in an effort to free up hospital beds for those suffering from COVID-19. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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The US Navy hospital ship Mercy arrives March 27, 2020 at the Port of Los Angeles to help local hospitals amid the growing coronavirus crisis, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
The other ship, USNS Comfort, is based in Norfolk, Virginia, and will soon set up in the New York City area.
Before Trump's announcement, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he and the president had discussed sending the "floating hospital" to New York harbor. Cuomo said the state's ability to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, which he expects to reach its peak in 45 days, depends on federal help.
Cuomo has said the state may need 37,000 ICU beds and 110,000 hospital beds at the peak of the crisis. That dwarfs the state's existing capacity: 3,000 ICU beds and 53,000 hospital beds.
The two ships each have about 1,000 rooms and 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen-producing plants, according to the U.S. Navy.
