The Pentagon said the Navy’s two hospital ships are being readied for deployment in support of domestic medical needs on the East and West coasts, and despite reports from Italy, the Department of Defense has yet to see an increased rate of infection for the generally younger, healthier military population.
“The USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy are being paired for deployment to assist overwhelmed communities with acute patient care,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said at a Pentagon briefing Wednesday that followed Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s meeting at the White House with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
The USNS Comfort is currently undergoing expedited maintenance in Norfolk, Virginia, and will be ready to sail to New York within weeks, while the USNS Mercy is in San Diego and will be ready within days to sail to an undisclosed West Coast destination.
The Air Force also flew in 500,000 COVID-19 test swabs from Italy to Memphis, Tennessee, last night, where they were put on FedEx planes to destinations prioritized by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Responding to reports coming out of Italy that younger populations are suffering grave effects of the virus, Joint Staff Surgeon Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs said the U.S. military has not experienced a similar trend.
“We’re not seeing that they’re having an unexpectedly more severe infection. Could that change? Quite possibly,” he said.
Friedrichs said European partners and Korea have been “very transparent” in sharing valuable data about their infected populations to help the United States prepare.
“We’re certainly tracking it very, very carefully. We have people around the clock when the data comes in looking at it,” he said.
In that vein, Hoffman used a brief opening statement to criticize China for expelling journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.
“In times like this, freedom of the press and government transparency are crucial and critical to combating misinformation and keeping the public informed,” he said.
The Pentagon said returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan are undergoing the same 14-day self-quarantine recommended for civilians, but Hoffman admitted that the Department of Defense “can do better” with base quarantines of some soldiers.
Reports of more than 400 soldiers cramped three to a room in 15-by-15-feet rooms with two meals a day and no exercise at Fort Bliss are now being addressed by the base commander, Hoffman said.
Both Friedrichs and Hoffman underscored the uncertainty of the fast-evolving situation surrounding the COVID-19 response.
“That’s a known unknown, if you will,” Friedrichs said at one point when describing the anomaly of youth infections in Italy. “This is a fast-evolving situation. We don’t know where we’re going to be in a week or two weeks.”
