A crew member on board a U.S. Navy hospital ship docked in New York City has tested positive for COVID-19.
The Navy told news outlets the crew member did not have any contact with patients and is now being isolated on the USNS Comfort.
The Navy said in a statement, "There is no impact to Comfort's mission, and this will not affect the ability for Comfort to receive patients. The ship is following protocols and taking every precaution to ensure the health and safety of all crewmembers and patients on board."
The Comfort was initially deployed from its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, to New York City in late March to help relieve stress on local hospitals by caring for non-coronavirus patients.
But as of early Tuesday morning, the hospital ship has only cared for a few dozen people. So at the request of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, President Donald Trump has now revised the ship's mission to allow it to treat patients with COVID-19 as well.
Because of this change, a Navy spokesperson told CNN the 1,000-bed ship will now only be able to take in as many as 500 patients at a time in order to keep everyone safe.
