#Trump slams Cuomo for ‘not using’ Javits, USNS Comfort during coronavirus peak

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President Donald Trump and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (top left)
AP; Matthew McDermott

President Trump on Tuesday evening ripped into Gov. Andrew Cuomo for not better utilizing the makeshift military hospitals deployed to New York City during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump claimed Cuomo “didn’t use” either the Javits Center or the USNS Comfort during a speech to young Republicans in Phoenix, although both hospitals were in fact used during their operation — albeit not to capacity — and officials at the sites claimed they helped make a difference.

“[Cuomo] wanted a hospital built in the Javits convention center. We built it, but he didn’t use it. He could have used for the older people. It was brand new, not infected, no infection,” Trump said.

“Then he wanted the boat. He wanted the boat to come up. The beautiful beautiful hospital ship. You know what that was called right?” Trump said, not mentioning the Comfort by name.

Both sites were initially planned as overflow hospitals to treat non-coronavirus patients. But Cuomo, facing a huge spike in COVID-19 infections, quickly shifted gears and converted the hospitals into coronavirus care facilities with the president’s approval — a move that cut the 1,000-bed Comfort’s capacity in half.

Trump himself announced the Comfort conversion back in April at Cuomo’s request. But on Tuesday he claimed it was the wrong move.

“And it came up. He could have used [the Comfort] for senior citizens,” Trump went on. “They didn’t use it. And it’s a shame. It’s a shame. It’s a shame.”

Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ultimately the extra capacity of the facilities was not needed after it became clear that New Yorkers had successfully flattened the curve.

The reconfigured, 500-bed Comfort treated roughly 182 patients, while the Javits Center handled another 1,100 infected patients — a small, but impactful contribution for desperately overwhelmed hospitals, according to officials on the ground.

Javits Center field hospital closed on May 1, after the Comfort had departed a day earlier.

“USNS Comfort arrived in New York City to provide relief to frontline healthcare providers, and each patient who was brought aboard ensured one more bed was available in a local hospital,” Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet and Maritime Component Element-East said when the Comfort departed New York at the end of April.