A handful of patients infected with coronavirus in New York City were transferred to the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort from the Javits Center by mistake, Fox News reports.
The USS Comfort, which docked in New York City on Monday, was not accepting coronavirus patients on board because of strict regulations. Before a patient is transferred to the ship, he or she must first go to a traditional hospital, receive a diagnosis, and test negative for COVID-19. At that point, the Navy requires an application from the hospital.
The patients, quantified as "less than five," were transferred to the Comfort at some point Friday, according to officials who spoke with the news outlet, and spent the night onboard the ship. They were sent back to the Javits Center on Saturday morning.
The risk was "low" because protocols were in place to deal with a situation like this one, officials told Fox.
"We planned for this to happen," one official said.
More than 293,539 people have been infected with coronavirus in the U.S., and more than 7,896 have died. New York has taken the biggest hit from the outbreak, which started in Wuhan, China, in late November.
More than 1,800 people have died in New York City and more than 66,000 have tested positive for COVID-19.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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