Posted on 03/17/2020 3:06:05 PM PDT by 11th_VA
The Pentagon is starting the process of activating Navy hospital ships USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) as part of the Defense Department’s domestic response to the spreading COVID-19 virus, USNI News has learned.
“We’ve already given orders to the Navy… to lean forward in terms of getting them ready to deploy,” Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters on Tuesday.
The ships will now begin the several days-long process of bringing aboard medical staff and equipment ahead of deploying along the East and West coasts, a defense official confirmed to USNI News on Tuesday afternoon.
Two sources told USNI News that the idea was for the ships to provide relief for coastal hospital systems, with the ships taking on non-COVID-19 cases and allowing the hospitals to focus on the most critical patients suffering from the virus. The Pentagon also has extensive equipment for erecting field hospitals in addition to the hospital ships, but those facilities are optimized for trauma cases, with several beds close together, and not for infectious patients.
“So one of the ways you could use field hospitals, hospital ships or things in between is to take the pressure off of civilian hospitals when it comes to trauma cases, to open up civilian hospital rooms for infectious diseases,” Esper said.
On Monday, Joint Staff surgeon Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs gave more details on how the ships could support civilian hospitals.
“If, for example, a community has a large outbreak and there’s a need for emergency room support or trauma support, a hospital ship is perfectly designed to do that,” Friedrichs told Politico on Monday. “It’s hard to get the hospital ship to St. Louis, but along the coasts, it is an option to use.”
Each ship has a 1,000-bed capacity ...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.usni.org ...
This is good excuse to up date and test those resources.
Good idea.
We can and will beat this!
The governors were demanding the Corp of Engineers to erect temp hospitals for the virus patients, far better to use them for existing apatients and using hospitals for the virus victims. Also New York needs touse existing hotels like they are doing on west coast. Individual rooms with individual bathrooms.
I’d much rather be on one of those ships, not a hospital, if I were sick.
The huge manatee of it.....
They would have to be approved by FDA, FEMA, DHS, CDC, and demorat party.
Could take decades
The world is at war with a hidden enemy. WE WILL WIN!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2020
No problem. They can line up the sick and dying on stretchers along the pier until the permits come in. And I think they have attachments now so you can stack then four high.
Maybe the fresh sea air would be beneficial!
That was my first thought , exactly. Those companies certainly won’t be using all of them. They could be disinfected and put into service. Probably cheaper than building hospitals.
p
I worked for Marriott for many years. I would bet they have several hotels that have been scheduled for renovation. Perhaps these properties could be used as hospitals.
Re Getting Serious. I’m patting myself on the back because I wrote about this in an FR “comment” a couple days ago in regards to what kind of medical aid capacities the US has that have not been utilized so far.
I mentioned that we moved a 10,000 person city (U.S. Pacific Fleet) to Indonesia to aid in rescue/medical operations after the tsunami about 6-7 years ago. Much of it was medical and air/land rescue ops.
We also have major airlift capabilities via the Air Force to take whole field hospitals to any place in the US or the world if and when needed. It is one of America’s greatest aid/rescue/medical help technologies and has been deployed all over the world for many decades, often without decent media coverage of these great people and machines.
You also have both regular and Reserve Army units (esp. medical), plus National Guard medical units, that can and have helped people in need around the world. Again, great organizations.
I know what we can do as my son’s unit, the 299th Army Reserve (Activated), MRB (Bridge builders), took all their heavy equipment to Iraq during OIF and put up the first ribbon bridge under combat conditions, built other temporary and permanent bridges (girder, etc). and also conducted amphibious and land combat operations against the Republican Guard. Then they took prisoners, aided civilians in need, etc.
We are Americans. If something has to be done right and on time, it will be done by Americans, esp. by the military.
The USS Comfort and Mercy have been leaders in bringing medical help to hundreds of thousands, if not millions during their lifetime of operations and will continue to do their magnificent work wherever and whenever they go into operation. A salute to the ships and their highly trained and motivated crews. If there is a disaster, those are the people the victims want to see first.
#29. Jim. I think the new Secretary of the Navy will say “We don’t need no stinkin’ permits. We are the US Navy so get the f**k out of our way and let us do our job”.
Quite a different leadership today than that of the “Queens Navy” led by Mabus and Obama.
Did you happen to catch the US total of new cases today?
Good news.
Are they headed to NY?
6,509, on worldometers latest count.
:(
What was the number, just for today? :)
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