‘Tsunami is coming’
New York's governor put out an urgent plea for medical volunteers, and a Navy hospital ship pulled into port as coronavirus deaths in the city mounted and hospitals buckled in what authorities say could be a preview of what other communities across the United States could soon face.
"Please come help us in New York now. We need relief," Governor Andrew Cuomo pleaded as the number of dead in New York State climbed past 1,200, with most of those victims dying in New York City.
A US Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds arrived in port in New York on Monday to help relieve the crisis gripping the city. The USNS Comfort - also sent to New York City after 9/11 - will be used to treat non-coronavirus patients while packed hospitals deal with those with COVID-19.
Nurses and other medical professionals who have volunteered to help have also begun arriving.
As he announced the latest death toll, he said, "That's a lot of loss, that's a lot of pain, that's a lot of tears, that's a lot of grief that people all across this state are feeling."
Criticising President Donald Trump's politicising of the crisis, Cuomo told MSNBC earlier on Monday: "The science people, the government professionals, have to stand up and look the president in the eye and say this is not a political exercise. This is not press relations. It's not optics. The tsunami is coming."
The United States has the highest number of infected people with 164,610 diagnosed cases, 3,170 deaths and 5,764 recoveries.
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