President Trump will travel to Norfolk, Virginia Saturday for the departure of the USNS Comfort hospital ship on its mission to support New York City hospitals as part of the nation’s battle with the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus. The Comfort is departing ahead of schedule, according to a White House statement. The Comfort is scheduled to arrive in New York on Monday.

President Trump, with Vice President Pence watching, speaks at the daily White House coronavirus briefing, March 26, screen image via NBC.

The Comfort will be used to take care of non-COVID-19 patients, thereby freeing up hospital beds and staff at city hospitals for infected patients. New York City is the hardest hit part of the country. As of Thursday evening there are a reported 23,112 cases. 4720 of those have required hospitalization. The city has a reported 365 COVID-19 deaths.

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The White House tweeted Thursday afternoon, “President @realDonaldTrump will travel to Norfolk, Virginia, this Saturday to bid bon voyage to the hospital ship USNS COMFORT as it leaves for New York City to the frontlines of the COVID-19 virus response…The #USNSComfort will sail well ahead of its originally scheduled departure time to answer America’s call to battle against the #COVID19 global pandemic here at home.”

President @realDonaldTrump will travel to Norfolk, Virginia, this Saturday to bid bon voyage to the hospital ship USNS COMFORT as it leaves for New York City to the frontlines of the COVID-19 virus response. — The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 26, 2020

The #USNSComfort will sail well ahead of its originally scheduled departure time to answer America’s call to battle against the #COVID19 global pandemic here at home. — The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 26, 2020

President Trump spoke about his visit to see off the Comfort at Thursday’s coronavirus task force briefing.

President Trump said he's "going to go out and kiss" the USNS Comfort goodbye on Saturday as it heads from Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia to New York City. https://t.co/sOA0Dx4bn4 pic.twitter.com/hm4vKqjG13 — ABC News (@ABC) March 26, 2020

Trump said the Comfort would dock at Pier 90.

The USNI News reported on the Comfort’s mission:

…The hospital ship, a converted San Clemente-class super tanker that has provided global medical support under the Military Sealift Command for 33 years, was undergoing maintenance work in Norfolk when Trump announced the ship would be deployed to support New York’s COVID-19 outbreak. Comfort will not take on infected patients but will rather care for patients with other needs – emergency surgeries, trauma care and more – to free up beds and doctors at New York hospitals so they can deal with the virus. USNI News reported that major maintenance actions were accelerated and other minor work was deferred to allow for the ship to be buttoned up, staffed and supplied in time for this weekend’s deployment…

To help put the size of the Navy's hospital ships into perspective, this is a photo of USNS Mercy alongside the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort were activated earlier this week as part of the DoD response to the spreading COVID-19 virus. pic.twitter.com/ZgQmywMfwC — U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) March 21, 2020

White House statement: