Brainstorming new ways to address the coronavirus threat while protecting soldiers deployed globally, the Defense Department on Friday offered logistical support should a nationwide call for doctors take place.
“The Department is well prepared from a logistics standpoint,” said assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Jonathan Hoffman at a Pentagon briefing that covered a range of Defense Department efforts to support its coronavirus response.
“If there is a mass volunteer of doctors from around the country and there is a need to provide guidance, command and control, logistics, to support the deployment of groups of volunteer doctors from around the country, that the department would be well positioned and well prepared to support that if called upon,” he said.
Hoffman also detailed some of the latest adjustments since a DOD task force was stood up in late February.
“We’re trying to stay ahead of the curve,” he said, describing how the department on Friday reclassified naval medical assets destined for New Orleans and Dallas and is modifying the Javits Center in New York City to host COVID-19 patients. The Pentagon also gave permission for ambulances to take trauma patients directly to the USNS Comfort hospital ship docked in New York harbor instead of screening them first at local hospitals.
In recent days, as the hospital ships USNS Mercy in Los Angeles and USNS Comfort in New York have come online and seen just a few dozen patients, far fewer than their combined 2,000-bed capacity, there have been calls for opening them up to COVID-19 patients.
Hoffman said there were inherent risks if that decision were made.
“It’s something we are looking at,” he said, warning of how the virus has spread on cruise ships. He described open bays and beds stacked four high on the hospital ships.
“It’s not an environment built for handling infectious diseases,” he said.
Hoffman said there is concern the infection could spread to other patients and reach medical personnel, making the ships less effective as an expeditionary tool that can reposition to other cities as needed.
Likewise, he said Army field hospitals, which he described as “giant tents,” had their limitations for treating coronavirus patients.
“Our ability to control the spread of an infectious disease in that environment is incredibly limited,” he said.
Hoffman said that 5 million N95 masks promised by Defense Secretary Mark Esper in March had been released from the DOD’s strategic reserve, and 5 million more will be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services in addition to 3 million test swabs, with more on the way.
He noted, however, that the Pentagon is holding reserve medical supplies and capability for soldiers still deployed to 400 bases in 150 countries, even though they are perceived to be at a lower risk.
“In a military context, it would be a low risk to the force and the ability of the force to continue to operate,” he said.
Hoffman also thanked DOD personnel and predicted a continued need: “Thanking them for working tirelessly through this in what will likely be a long and difficult coming weeks.”
