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USNS Comfort has 19 New York patients aboard U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort, the 1,000-bed vessel sent to New York City to help alleviate pressure on hospitals, had 19 patients Thursday night, a Navy spokesperson said. The ship was one of two dispatched — the other is the USNS Mercy in Los Angeles — and Pentagon officials have said they were to take patients so that hospitals could deal with those suffering from COVID-19. In New York City alone, more than 49,700 cases had been confirmed and 1,562 deaths reported as of 5 p.m. Thursday, according to the city's health department. The state overall has more than 92,300 cases and more than 2,300 deaths, according to an NBC News count. Gov. Andrew Cuomo told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday said that coronavirus cases have overwhelmed hospitals but that that the ship was never supposed to be for COVID-19 patients. Because of the huge demand, Cuomo said he asked President Donald Trump to allow a U.S. Army-run facility at the Javits Center with 2,500 beds to instead be used for COVID-19 patients, and Trump agreed. The commander of the USNS Comfort, Capt. Patrick Amersbach, said Thursday that personnel is following Defense Department orders to accept only non-COVID-19 patients, but if that changes they would adjust. Share this -







NYC first responders reeling from 'unprecedented' call volume New York City first responders are handling "tremendously high" call volumes, working multiple double shifts with back-to-back cases and suspected coronavirus patients going into cardiac arrest as the disease continues to sweep the city. "Everybody's overworked. ... People who are working five doubles, five 16-hour tours," in one week, said a New York City Fire Department emergency medical technician who works in the Bronx. "You get your two days off, but those days you're just sleeping the whole day because your body's recuperating from so much work," the EMT, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Thursday. Read the full story here. Share this -







Trump on release of prisoners: 'We don’t like it' WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is considering intervening to stop the release of some prisoners amid the coronavirus pandemic. Correctional facilities in states such as California, Michigan and Pennsylvania have begun releasing certain inmates as the prisons face a shortage of medical supplies. Trump said Thursday that “we don’t like it.” The president added that “we’re looking to see if I have the right to stop it in some cases.” He did not elaborate what measures, or under what legal authority, he would take to stop or reverse the releases. Share this -







16 dead in outbreak at Virginia nursing facility RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia long-term care facility with one of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreaks announced Thursday that its death toll had reached 16 as new testing confirmed roughly two-thirds of its residents have COVID-19. The Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in suburban Richmond tested all its residents earlier this week after the virus began sweeping through the facility in mid-March, a time when limited supplies and strict policies on who could be tested meant such a response was not possible. Ninety-two in-house or hospitalized residents have tested positive, the facility said in a statement, up from 41 positive tests earlier in the week. Only 35 tested negative, and 15 tests were still pending, meaning approximately two-thirds of the facility had become infected with the virus. Share this -







White House expected to recommend masks The White House is expected to urge Americans who live in areas of high coronavirus transmission to wear cloth face coverings, a senior administration official told NBC News on Thursday night. Vice President Mike Pence addressed the potential for a mask advisory, based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, at Thursday's daily news briefing on the pandemic. He said the White House would weigh in on such guidance "in the days ahead." White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx cautioned that any recommendation on masks must be "additive" and not a substitute for existing social distancing guidelines. Read the full story here. Share this -







Patriots plane ferries critical masks from China to U.S. BOSTON — The New England Patriots private team plane returned to Boston from China on Thursday carrying most of an order of 1 million masks critical to health care providers fighting to control the spread of the coronavirus. Standing in front of the plane on the tarmac at Logan International Airport, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker thanked Patriots owner Robert Kraft, officials in China who partnered with the state, and medical workers who need the masks. “This shipment comes at a critical time as we prepare for an anticipated surge in the coming weeks ahead,” Baker said. “What we were able to accomplish with this particular mission will go a long way forward in this fight.” Baker secured the N95 masks from Chinese manufacturers but had no way of getting them to the U.S. Baker said Thursday an earlier order for 3 million masks had been confiscated at the Port of New York and this time he wanted a direct humanitarian delivery to the state. It took a lot of teamwork to secure the mask shipment on our team plane.



Join our efforts to provide more essential personal protective equipment to our healthcare workers who are courageously fighting COVID-19: https://t.co/23xDMPbJjn — New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 2, 2020 Share this -





