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California will move some senior citizens from care homes to the USNS Mercy in order to better isolate them from coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.

Newsom said Friday that the Navy hospital ship will expand its original mandate to help alleviate pressure on nursing homes. Only non-COVID-19 residents will be moved.

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The governor claimed that over 1,200 residents and staff at nursing homes across the state have tested positive for the virus, with an additional 370 positive cases in small, home-based facilities.

COVID-19 has been especially deadly for senior citizens, with a fatality rate of close to 15 percent in patients over the age of 80, according to a recent study.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Newsom is also dispatching 600 nurses “trained in infectious disease control” to assist nursing homes and other adult care facilities.

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“I‘m just giving you an overall sense of the seriousness to which we place our efforts and focus on protecting our most vulnerable, our seniors in the state of California,” Newsom said.

The Mercy docked in the Port of Los Angeles on March 27, with the crew intending to treat patients who did not have COVID-19. The hope was that the 1,000-bed ship would take some of the burden off the hospital system, allowing it to focus on the pandemic.

However, only 15 patients have been treated on the ship since its arrival, which might explain the change in course for its mission.

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As of Friday, California had 19,472 confirmed cases, with 541 deaths.