As of March 18, there were 4,152 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus across the state of New York.
Meanwhile, Assistant Defense Secretary for Public Affairs Jonathan Hoffman told CNBC that the USNS Mercy will need several days to prepare for its deployment to help provide medical care for patients infected by the novel coronavirus.
He said the USNS 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 week[s].”
