Coronavirus: a hospital ship has arrived in New York

Engaged in a race against the clock to face the peak of the pandemic, New York welcomed the arrival of a hospital ship on Monday. The military ship USNS Comfort, with a capacity of 1000 beds and 12 operating theaters, arrived around 10:30 local time. It should allow New York hospitals to be discharged from patients who do not require coronavirus-related care.

" The fact that the navy is there, that the army is there to help New York at a time when our city is in need is very important, " said Mayor Bill de Blasio, as the boat entered. in Manhattan harbor. " It means that we are not alone, (...) it is a symbol of hope, " he added during a press point.

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The arrival of this boat, at the same time as the opening of a hospital in the Javits Center conference center in Manhattan, which will be able to accommodate nearly 3000 patients not affected by the virus, comes at a time when the number of people suffering from Covid-19 is increasing at full speed in the United States.

The only state of New York, epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, counted Monday evening more than 67,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,200 deaths, according to the governor Andrew Cuomo. And the virus is spreading, now hitting hard the states of New Jersey, Louisiana, Illinois or Florida.

" The virus is one step ahead "

The United States has become in recent days the country with the most confirmed cases - more than 163,000, for more than 3,000 dead, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, continuously updated.

" The virus has been one step ahead of us since day one, " New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday in a press briefing. “ You never win by trying to catch up. We have to plan for in two, three, four weeks, when it will be the peak (of the epidemic), and be sure that we will then be in a position to win the battle . ”

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Bill de Blasio stressed that his city still needed urgently, just to keep up with the week, some 400 artificial respirators and reinforcements of medical personnel.

“ Last week, we probably had around 50% of patients with coronavirus. This week, we went to 75%. Now we're at 85-90%, "said Shamit Patel, who works in the emergency room of the Mount Sinai hospital group in Manhattan, this weekend. " We are not yet at the end of our capabilities, but we are preparing for it ."

This worsening of the situation prompted Donald Trump to extend until the end of April the confinement and restriction instructions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, rather than reducing them by Easter April 12, as he had done. hoped for.