The Queen Mary ocean liner may be brought out of retirement after over half a century to help California fight the coronavirus outbreak as America’s latest floating hospital ship.
While few details were given, city officials said they are in talks to convert the ship into a medical facility in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 patients that could overwhelm land hospitals in the weeks ahead, the Long Beach Post reported.
“The City is coordinating plans regarding care facilities and more to ensure that we remain prepared to serve the needs of our community,” Long Beach officials said in a statement. “The Queen Mary remains in consideration, and we will have a plan to announce in the future.”
The British-built vessel is owned by the city, where it has been moored since its retirement in 1967 to serve as a museum, hotel and tourist attraction. There are more than 300 rooms aboard the ship.
The Queen Mary would become the latest floating medical center to join the coast-to-coast battle against the coronavirus following the deployment of two US Navy ships last week.
The USNS Comfort arrived in New York City harbor last week on the front lines of the growing pandemic, while its sister ship, the Mercy, was docked in the Port of Los Angeles. The two ships can each provide up to 1,000 hospital beds for non-coronavirus patients to free up space in land hospitals for those with the disease.
The virus has so far sickened 198 people in Long Beach as the state total climbed to more than 12,000 on Saturday.