UCSF sends group of 20 doctors, nurses to New York amid coronavirus pandemic

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Twenty nurses and doctors from the University of California, San Francisco are headed to New York City to help care for COVID-19 patients in the New York-Presbyterian hospital system.

UCSF is sending a group of 12 doctors and eight nurses out of more than 200 health care workers who volunteered for the assignment.

Earlier this week, New York City had more than 20,000 patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus.

San Francisco, in comparison, has approximately 90 hospitalizations, the university said in a statement.

"We remain focused on our patients here in San Francisco, and are very well resourced with health care workers should we face a surge ourselves, even with our volunteers in New York," Josh Adler, chief clinical officer of UCSF health, said in a statement. "But our present capacity allows us to extend our public health mission to those who are facing some of the country's most challenging conditions during this pandemic."

The group of 20 medical professionals were scheduled to travel to New York on Saturday. They will stay in New York for one month, the university said.

New York has more than 180,000 cases of COVID-19 as of Saturday morning.

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