Carnival offers cruise ships as floating hospitals amid coronavirus pandemic

MIAMI - Carnival Corporation announced on Wednesday that some of their cruise ships will be made available to use as temporary hospitals to help address the escalating impacts of coronavirus on communities around the world. 

They said that as the pandemic adds pressure on land-based health care facilities, including a shortage of hospital beds, governments and health authorities can consider using their cruise ships as temporary health care facilities to treat non-COVID-19 patients.  The ships can feature up to 1,000 hospital rooms.

Carnival said that this will free up additional space on land to treat patients with COVID-19. 

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The ships would dock at a pier near a community in need and would be operated by the ship's crew with all maritime operations, food and beverage, and cleaning services provided by crew members, they said. 

Health officials or governments who take Carnival's offer will reportedly only be asked to cover the essential costs of the ship's operations while in port. 

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This story was written in Orlando, Florida.