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HEALTH-VIRUS-US
New York gets hospital ship as coronavirus accelerates in US
NEW YORK, March 31, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A military hospital ship arrived in
New York Monday as America’s coronavirus epicenter gears up for the peak of
the pandemic, with emergency restrictions extended as the national death toll
passed 3,000.
The navy’s 1,000-bed USNS Comfort docked at a Manhattan pier as more US
states enforced stay-at-home orders after President Donald Trump abandoned
his Easter target for life returning to normal in the United States.
The 894 foot-long vessel — which also has space for a dozen operating
rooms — was greeted by cheering crowds after departing Norfolk, Virginia on
Saturday.
Its arrival came as Virginia, Maryland and the capital Washington became
the latest areas to restrict citizens’ movements, meaning almost three-
quarters of Americans are now living, or about to live, under various phases
of lockdown.
On Sunday, Trump cancelled his plans to re-open much of the United States
by Easter — April 12 — and extended social distancing guidelines until the
end of April after his top scientists confronted him with data on the rising
coronavirus deaths.
He said America’s death rate was likely to increase for two weeks,
describing as “horrible” a prediction by senior scientist Anthony Fauci that
COVID-19 could claim up to 200,000 lives.
Worst-affected New York is ramping up hospital capacity and taking delivery
of desperately needed medical supplies as it races against time.
– ‘Apex’ –
“We have been playing catch up from day one,” Governor Andrew Cuomo told
reporters.
“Don’t fight today’s fight. Plan for two weeks, three weeks, four weeks
from now when you’re going to have the apex, and make sure that we’re in a
position to win the battle,” he added.
The Comfort will care for New Yorkers requiring intensive care unrelated to
the coronavirus, easing the burden on a hospital network overwhelmed by an
influx of COVID-19 patients.
The US now has the highest number of confirmed cases in the world — more
than 163,000 according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The virus has claimed more than 3,000 lives in the country, including more
than 1,200 in New York state.
Some 790 deaths have occurred in New York City, the country’s financial
capital and the most populous US city.
It is spreading to other areas, notably New Jersey, Louisiana, Illinois and
Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis said Monday he did not want passengers
from the cruise ship Zaandam suspected of having the virus “dumped” in his
state.
New York opened a temporary emergency hospital in the Javits convention
center with 2,900 beds on Monday. A field hospital in Central Park is due to
open Tuesday.
Four other sites have also been approved to house patients discharged from
hospitals to make way for residents suffering from the novel coronavirus.
– ‘D-Day’ for New York –
Flights run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) began
arriving at New York’s JFK Airport as Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city
needed 400 more ventilators by the end of the week, describing next Sunday as
“D-Day.”
The flights, part of 50 planned under “Project Airbridge,” are delivering
millions of masks, gowns and thermometers for hospitals.
“We are all trying to reuse what we can because you never know when it’s
going to run out,” 38-year-old doctor Peter Liang told AFP, referring to
supplies at the Manhattan hospital he works in.
Fauci, who leads research into infectious diseases at the National
Institutes of Health, said Sunday that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans
could die from “millions of cases.”
Trump told Fox News on Monday he expected a spike in cases around Easter,
before numbers begin to fall.
“That would be a day of celebration. And we just want to do it right,” said
Trump, who earlier said he expected the country to “be well on our way to
recovery” by June 1.
Fauci said he had no trouble convincing Trump to extend the confinement
guidelines.
“It was a pretty clear picture,” Fauci told CNN on Monday.
Trump, who initially downplayed COVID-19 pandemic, has oscillated between
stressing the seriousness of the outbreak to talking of the need to get
people back to work quickly.
A staggering 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the
third week of March, by far the highest ever recorded.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0953 hrs