The Navy hospital ships Mercy and Comfort are being prepared to be used as part of the Defense Departments COVID-19 civilian response, USNI News reports.
"We've already given orders to the Navy . . . to lean forward in terms of getting them ready to deploy," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters Tuesday.
The ships are taking medical staff on board, and would be used near coastal cities for non coronavirus patients, freeing up regular hospitals to treat those with COVID-19, sources told USNI News.
"So one of the ways you could use field hospitals, hospital ships or things in between is to take the pressure off of civilian hospitals when it comes to trauma cases, to open up civilian hospital rooms for infectious diseases," Esper told reporters.
Each ship has a 1,000-bed capacity. Mercy is based at Naval Station San Diego, California. Comfort is based at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.