Coronavirus: Patients will overwhelm U.S. health system in coming weeks, former FDA chief says

CNBC's "Squawk Box" team is joined by former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb to discuss how the U.S. is preparing for more coronavirus patients and what is needed from the health care system.

The Pentagon said Wednesday that a Navy hospital ship intended to help New York hospitals dealing with a rapidly expanding load of coronavirus cases will not be ready for weeks.

Earlier Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said President Donald Trump agreed to send the USNS Comfort hospital ship to help with coronavirus cases, expected to surge in the next 45 days.

“The Comfort is currently in for maintenance in Norfolk, so they are going to expedite the maintenance if they can and prepare it,” explained Jonathan Hoffman, assistant defense secretary for public affairs. “That’s not a days issue, that is a weeks issue. So it’s gonna be a little while,” he added.

It was unclear whether the Comfort’s twin, the USNS Mercy, would also head to New York.

The Comfort and the Mercy are nearly three football fields long and 10 stories high, making them indisputably the largest hospital ships in the world. The Comfort’s home port is Norfolk, Virginia, and the Mercy’s is San Diego, California.

“With regard to the Mercy, the Mercy will be prepared and ready to go much sooner, it has had a warning order to get ready for the last few days, so they are hopefully going to be able to go in days, not weeks,” Hoffman said.

The vessels, which were transformed from hulking oil tankers into 1,000-bed hospital ships, are equipped with 12 operating rooms, a blood bank, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab and a CAT-scan.

Both ships have side ports to take on patients at sea as well as helicopter decks for air transport. The ships are so massive, each would be tantamount to the fourth-biggest hospital in the U.S.

For more coronavirus live updates:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-live-updates.html

For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://www.cnbc.com/pro/?__source=youtube

» Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision
» Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
» Subscribe to CNBC Classic: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCclassic

Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide.

Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/
Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC

#CNBC
#CNBC TV