The U.S. Navy hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, waved good-bye to New York City on Thursday and was heading to another assignment after being docked in Manhattan for a month and treating over 100 people, some for COVID-19.
The hospital ship acted as a “relief valve” for overburdened New York City hospitals, originally to treat non-coronavirus patients, but was then enabled to handle COVID-19 cases. The ship, equipped with 750 beds, operating rooms and a pharmacy and could’ve handled 1,000 beds.
Luckily, New York City hit flattened the curve and experienced a dramatic decrease in the number of reported cases and deaths, so the ship is being moved to cities where it may get more use.
The last time the ship hospital docked in New York City was during the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to provide relief to first responders.
City residents watched from the waterfront and some waved flags for the ship’s crew.
This story originally appeared on amny.com.
