Pentagon: Mercy, Comfort hospital ships will be readied for new missions after L.A. and NYC

Employing a pair of massive hospital ships to help fight the coronavirus pandemic in America’s two largest cities has been a learning process, Pentagon officials acknowledged Friday.

The 1,000-bed USNS Mercy, which departed Friday from the Port of Los Angeles, treated 77 patients in more than seven weeks. The USNS Comfort, its East Coast-based sister ship, wrapped up its mission in New York City last month after caring for 182 patients.

Unlike the Comfort, the Mercy did not treat any COVID-19 patients and was used to deal with other medical needs.

“The Mercy’s departure is a welcome sign of progress,” said chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

Local officials in California, New York and Washington state had asked for the two hospital ships to be sent to their respective locations.

“They were clamoring for what they thought was the need, which was going to be additional bed space,” Mr. Hoffman said.

But the requirements evolved as the situation changed. Parceling out Navy medical staff to local hospitals eventually became the optimum solution.

“We’ve seen the demand signal shift — from a fully formed hospital with doctors and nurses to just additional beds and then to just doctors,” Mr. Hoffman said.

No coronavirus-based missions in the immediate future are planned for the two hospital ships, but they will be prepared to if called upon, officials said.

“We’re going to look at the lessons we’ve learned from this,” Mr. Hoffman said. “We’ll look and see what the next potential wave looks like.”