Four patients have died from coronavirus at the Javits Center’s federally run field hospital and aboard the USNS Comfort Naval hospital ship, state officials said Tuesday.
Two of the COVID-19 dead died at the 500-bed makeshift facility at the Javits Center and another two on the 500-bed medical ship, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office confirmed.
The news comes as both facilities, which were promised to ease the burden on COVID-19-strapped Big Apple hospitals, remain largely underused.
As of noon Tuesday, there were 347 patients at the Javits facility and 69 on the Comfort, a US Department of Defense spokesman said in an email.
The Comfort, which arrived on March 30 with 1,000 hospital beds, was supposed to handle non-coronavirus emergencies but had to cut its capacity in half to handle COVID-19 patients after a crew member tested positive and several infected patients were accidentally transferred there.
Both the Javits Center and the Comfort are overseen by the federal defense department, but the feds deferred to local authorities when asked for a death toll at the facilities.
“We provide information concerning the status of any non-DoD member being cared for at our medical facilities in NYC to the State of New York, Department of Health and the New York City Health and Hospitals,” the statement said.
Officials at City Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Ebony Bowden
