EXCLUSIVE - Multiple patients infected with coronavirus were transferred to the hospital ship Comfort from the Javits Center in New York by mistake, three U.S. officials tell Fox News.
The number of Covid-19 patients brought on board the hospital ship was estimated to be “less than five,” one official said.
This information has not been previously reported.
The patients were transferred sometime Friday, according to the officials. At the time the patients were transferred to the hospital ship Comfort, the initial screening did not indicate they were positive, officials said.
The hospital ship is located on Pier 90 on Manhattan’s west side and arrived in New York Monday. The vessel has a “couple dozen” patients on board right now, according to chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.
Part of the protocol before receiving patients onboard Comfort is for a coronavirus test to be performed. The swab test came back hours later, but not before the patients had spent a night onboard the vessel, which is only supposed to treat trauma patients, not Covid-19 positive patients.
About a dozen patients from the Javits Center in midtown Manhattan were transferred to the hospital ship Comfort Friday after President Trump approved New York Gov. Cuomo’s request to have Covid-19 patients treated at the Javits Center Thursday.
All the patients at Javits Center were then transferred to the hospital ship a short distance away where they were isolated and tested for the novel coronavirus.
Up to the point of embarking aboard the hospital ship, the patients had only filled out a questionnaire and had their temperature taken as part of an initial screening process. It’s been reported that half of people infected with coronavirus show no symptoms, according to the latest data.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/coronavirus-patients-delivered-comfort-ship-new-york-mistake