In spite of social distancing guidelines, many came to see the massive ship dock.

New York City has seen an unprecedented surge of COVID-19 cases in the last few days. According to city officials, of the 66,500 confirmed cases in New York state, 36,221 are within New York City alone. While there is no death count for the city, New York state has a confirmed 960 COVID-19-related deaths. In order to aid local medical services with the surge, the city has received additional support in the form of a massive hospital ship.

As a part of President Trump’s response to the pandemic, the US Navy deployed the USNS Comfort to New York City’s docks. The Comfort is a hospital ship equipped 1,000 hospital beds, 12 operation rooms, and an impressive array of medical equipment and supplies. The ship will not be taking in COVID-19 patients, however; rather, the ship will be handling all non-coronavirus cases in an effort to free up local hospital resources to focus on the pandemic. The ship will begin accepting patients shortly.

In spite of guidelines to encourage social distancing currently in place in New York City, a large crowd of people gathered on Monday to watch the Comfort dock. Police officers were forced to maintain a presence at the dock and break up any large gatherings, with fines threatened if citizens refused to disperse. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio noted the day prior that anyone breaking social distancing guidelines, including large gatherings and not maintaining six-feet distance, could be fined up to $500.