Lessons Learned for Orthopaedic Care Within the NYC COVID Epicenter Using the United States Naval Ship Comfort

Although elective surgeries and in-person office visits were greatly reduced during the COVID-19 crisis, orthopaedic surgeons continue to play a critical role in caring for both orthopaedic and nonorthopaedic problems during this pandemic. Orthopaedic departments provide the ability to off-load emergency departments of orthopaedic issues, redeploy staff to areas of need across the hospital system, and provide direct care to COVID-19 patients. The following will discuss the experience of a large academic orthopaedic surgery department within the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to redeployment of human capital and unique resources such as the United States Naval Ship Comfort as well as our recommended strategy for handling future disaster situations.