President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that the federal government will deploy a US Navy hospital ship to New York city to treat non-coronavirus patients as hospitals become slammed with victims suffering from the killer bug.
Trump said that an additional ship will also be deployed to an undisclosed location on the West Coast as well.
"They are being prepared right now. They're massive ships. They are the big, white ships with the Red Cross on the sides," Trump said at a press conference, along with his White House coronavirus task force.
The Comfort, essentially a floating hospital, has 1,000 beds with 80 of those dedicated to intensive care.
The Pentagon had been preparing for the deployment of the Comfort and at least one other ship in the Navy's hospital fleet to provide relief to overwhelmed hospital systems.
The President said that his administration will suspend foreclosures and evictions on homeowners until the end of next month.
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"The Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing immediate relief to renters and homeowners by suspending all foreclosures and evictions until the end of April," Trump said.
Earlier, Trump had stated that Americans will get a cheque of $1,000 or more in the coming weeks, as political leaders unite around a dramatic plan to try to prevent a deeper-than-expected recession and protect people from going bankrupt.
"For the people that are now out of work because of the important and necessary containment policies ... the money will soon be coming to you," President Trump wrote on Twitter early Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that at least 1,500 troops of the National Guard will be deployed to contain the spread of the virus.