USNS Comfort Capt. Patrick Ambersbach on treating COVID-19 patients in New York
U.S. armed forces join the fight against coronavirus.
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Captain Patrick Ambersbach, who is commanding the USNS Comfort in New York, said on Saturday that three of his medical personnel caught the coronavirus but were doing "very, very well" as they separated from the rest of the ship.
"We have a total of three. All of them are separated from the rest of the crew," Ambersbach said on "Cavuto Live." "They are all doing very, very well. And two of the three -- no patient contacts at all. So, again, all I can say is that they are all doing very, very well and hopefully, within a few days or so, in accordance with CDC [Centers for Disease Control] guideline, we'll get them back into the fight."
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Ambersbach told Neil Cavuto that he was dedicated to making adjustments to accomodate the influx of COVID-19 patients on his ship, which was originally intended to house non-coronavirus patients as New York medical facilities dealt with positive cases.
"Our mission has changed a bit," Ambersbach, who's commanding the USNS Comfort, said on "Cavuto Live." "But again, we do that every day in the military. We're ready to pivot as required, so whether they were COVID negative or COVID positive, we're going to provide outstanding care to whatever population receive."
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SLIDE SHOW: USNS COMFORT IS THE WORLD'S BIGGEST HOSPITAL SHIP
As the ship took on COVID-19 patients, it needed to create more distance between them. Ambersbach confirmed that this led to a halving of the number of beds he could use.
"Of course, we don't want to put non-COVID-19 with positive COVID-19, but because of the configuration of the ship and the way the wards are set up in the ICU's, we do have the ability to keep them separate from each other," he said.
He added that the ship had installed "environmental controls" that helped reduce potential spread of the virus.
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The switch to a "COVID-positive" ship also meant that the crew needed new equipment, specifically respirators.
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