President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that 1,000 medical military personnel are deploying to New York City to help fight the coronavirus pandemic and warned that the upcoming week will likely be the toughest yet.
It’s unclear exactly how and where the military personnel will be utilized in New York, the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.
“We’re taking people now out of our military. We’ve been doing it but now we’re doing it on a larger basis,” the president said at a White House press briefing. The administration will potentially send additional medical personnel to the state as cases continue to surge.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said earlier in the day the state has just seven days to prepare for coronavirus apex as it struggles to expand hospital capacity and access to medical equipment.
New York City reported 305 new deaths on Friday, marking the biggest one-day jump so far and bringing the city’s death toll to at least 1,867. The city has confirmed at least 57,159 cases and makes up roughly a quarter of confirmed cases in the country. Cuomo said the state has 113,704 total cases.
Military personnel are operating the Javits Center in New York City, which has been converted into a makeshift hospital. The Pentagon has also deployed Naval hospital ships to the city, including the USNS Comfort, which is supposed to take in non-infected patients to relieve burden on the city’s hospitals.
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