SAN PEDRO, Calif. — The USNS Mercy sailed to the Port of Los Angeles on March 27 to help treat non-COVID-19 patients, providing relief to local hospitals expecting a surge in coronavirus cases, but the Navy faced its own outbreak on board after arriving in L.A.
In this Spectrum News 1 exclusive, a Navy corpsman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, believes more could have been done to protect everyone on board from exposure to the virus.
“We are getting 800 people from - not just California - we have people from Hawaii, Arizona, North Dakota, coming from all over the world to get on a ship which is basically a petri dish,” said the corpsman.
The corpsman says the Mercy’s mission was off to a rocky start, especially after a crew member was removed from the ship before it arrived in Los Angeles.
"Then an email was sent out the next day saying, 'yes, we did have a sailor leave the ship. They were not showing any symptoms and they only tested positive once they got off the ship,'" said the corpsman.
In a statement from Lt. Ada Willis, a Navy public affairs officer, all crew members completed a screening which consisted of a temperature check and a questionnaire before boarding the ship in San Diego.
The corpsman believed crew members would also undergo COVID-19 testing at the beginning of the mission.
"I was told we were going to get tested, we were going to get temperatures checked and none of that was done,” said the corpsman.
Two-and-a-half weeks after arriving in L.A., the Navy announced seven crew members on board tested positive.
"I was scared because they were so close to where I sleep,” said the corpsman.
The corpsman also worries some patients may have unknowingly carried the virus on board the ship.
"It started out at first, they had to have negative coronavirus testings, but we started getting patients that had been stabbed or had been shot and they had not gotten their testing results back, so on their chart, it would have a question mark next to COVID," said the corpsman.
The Navy says crew members have treated 73 patients, with six currently on board, and none of the patients treated showed COVID-like symptoms on the ship and did not require testing while on board.
When treating patients, the corpsman says crew members were urged to reuse hospital gowns and N95 masks even though they had access to new PPE supplies.
"We would get one mask, we had to hang onto that for the whole time," said the corpsman, who was also concerned about placing patients in a large ward where germs could have easily spread. "It’s kind of this open bay where there is a bunch of bunk beds, so these patients aren't getting private rooms. So they are coughing...it’s going everywhere."
The corpsman believes better protective measures should have been in place from the start of the mission.
"Making sure everyone that's working is tested - like not just thrown on the ship - and everyone we are working with is either protected more, given the right tools, given the right equipment," said the corpsman.
Lt. Willis says the Navy has taken additional measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including removing all medical personnel from the ship and housing them in local hotels to reduce the number of crew members in common areas of the ship such as living areas and mess decks, making it easier to practice social distancing.
The crew members living in hotels are screened daily before they report to the ship for work. Crew members are also tested for COVID-19 if they show influenza-like symptoms, or if they were in close contact with someone who tested positive.
The Navy also set up tents on the Mercy’s flight deck to allow crew members to practice social distancing during mealtimes and expanded its cleaning regime throughout the ship. Crew members use a bleach solution to wipe down surfaces multiple times throughout the day.
UPDATE: The USNS Mercy has discharged its last patient on May 5, according to Commander Fage. He says as of April 30 and at the direction of FEMA, the Mercy stopped receiving patients. Fage says as of May 7, approximately 40 personnel assigned to Mercy’s Medical Treatment Facility continue supporting state healthcare providers at a skilled nursing facility in Orange County.