The 1,000-Bed Comfort Was Supposed to
Aid New York. It Has 20 Patients.
New York Times,
by
Michael Schwirtz
Original Article
Posted By: EQKimball,
4/3/2020 4:38:42 PM
NEW YORK — Such were the expectations for the Navy hospital ship U.S. Naval Ship Comfort that when it chugged into New York Harbor this week, throngs of people, momentarily forgetting the strictures of social distancing, crammed together along Manhattan’s west side to catch a glimpse.
On Thursday, though, the huge white vessel, which officials had promised would bring succor to a city on the brink, sat mostly empty, infuriating local hospital executives. The ship’s 1,000 beds are largely unused, its 1,200-member crew mostly idle.
Republished by Yahoo News. No paywall. Headline split. Staff
Reply 1 - Posted by:
GoodDeal 4/3/2020 4:44:09 PM (No. 367503)
The ship is NOT for CV patients. It’s to take patients from hospitals that are overloaded. Apparently they aren’t that overloaded right now.
34 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
LeeBertie 4/3/2020 4:51:52 PM (No. 367508)
Yahoo News evidently missed the memo that the hospital ships were meant to relieve pressure on NYC and LA hospitals by freeing up beds being used by everyday normal hospital patients. But more likely it's just more of Yahoo News being Yahoo News.
What's the point of turning a hospital ship into another Zaandam or Diamond Princess?
21 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 4/3/2020 4:59:13 PM (No. 367516)
Treating non-virus patients on the ship is what the hospitals wanted, so they could concentrate on the COVID patients who needed intensive care.
30 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Doc1 4/3/2020 4:59:22 PM (No. 367517)
You don't start with a 1000 patients on day one. Not possible.
19 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
volksford 4/3/2020 5:16:51 PM (No. 367525)
So where are the large number of patients to make room for the covid 19 cases ?
15 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
anniebc 4/3/2020 5:21:33 PM (No. 367527)
Not to worry, fam, the patients are coming. The media and Cuomo said they're coming. Where's the trust?
17 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Condor44 4/3/2020 5:33:56 PM (No. 367539)
I read that the problem is that hospitals were supposed to refer patients to the ship and they haven't been doing it. They will use this to blame the president.
16 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 4/3/2020 5:33:59 PM (No. 367540)
Have heard two stories regarding New York today...
- COVID19 patients in NYC are being shipped to hospitals in upstate NY.
- The NY governor intends to have the national guard seize unused respirators from upstate hospitals.
Was planning on returning to NY in May. I have canceled my flight. If I came down with CV, would I want to be hospitalized in NY or elsewhere? Definitely NOT NY.
10 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
davew 4/3/2020 5:38:43 PM (No. 367544)
They can't accept patients on the Comfort that either can't be treated for medical reasons or who have the virus. If they allow infected patients on the ship the entire facility would need to be decontaminated before it could be returned to service. This would put any other cities on the East coast that might need the ship at risk.
The fact is the NYC administration was caught completely flat footed by this emergency and are looking for any reason to deflect blame due to their lack of managerial skills. This will be the pattern for Democrat run cities for the remainder of the pandemic.
18 people like this.
More "cavalry coming" political nonsense. The hospital crisis in NYC has been overblown and the failure to use (need) this ship only underlines the bull-oney being fed the public to feed the hysteria.
16 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
mean Gene 4/3/2020 5:46:45 PM (No. 367556)
Tells me there's a lot of elective surgeries and other non-emergency hospitalizations going on at hospitals (at least prior to Covid-19.)
Good that these beds are available for people who and when they really need them.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Foghorn 4/3/2020 6:04:35 PM (No. 367574)
I am tired of the bitching from the people in NYC that the nation isn't doing enough for them. The first complaint was the Army had thousands of ventilators that were being held. They don't realize the Army has several hospitals around the world to keep the troops health. The Air Force and Navy have hospitals in Italy. The Army has hospital in Germany just to mention a few. The hospital ship needs space to manage the health needs of people that DO NOT have the virus. It is a safety margin that is necessary. Seems some of the people in NYC expect the government to provide everything they need. That's a socialist democrat view.
16 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Shadow722 4/3/2020 6:17:35 PM (No. 367581)
So NYC would have us believe that regular trauma are all going the the Hospital ship. So there are almost no (less than 20), heart attacks, overdoses, shooting or stabbing victims, home accidents, traffic accidents, rapes, and/or, domestic violence victims et al in a city of 8 million??
If so, maybe we should leave the shelter in place order for NYC on permanently???
11 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
bad-hair 4/3/2020 6:25:34 PM (No. 367587)
It's there. New York is getting hammered by the bug, no trying to place blame. Where else should it be. If you've got a better idea weigh anchor and sail.
1 person likes this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
EQKimball 4/3/2020 6:34:55 PM (No. 367596)
Meanwhile in the Port of Los Angeles, the USS Mercy, which arrived on Sunday, has received 15 patients.
7 people like this.
Succor?
Who writes this schiffy crap?
Shut up!
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 4/3/2020 6:37:06 PM (No. 367599)
I heard or read somewhere recently that ER's around the country are practically empty because many of those who would 'normally' visit the ER are actually not true emergencies and are 'social distancing' or in lockdown. I can definitely believe that theory....might be at play here.
12 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 4/3/2020 6:45:12 PM (No. 367606)
I don't believe Yahoo any more than I believe the New York Times. I'll take the Naval Chief of Staff's word for verification, and then I'll pick up some rocks. The guy who wrote the article is ignorant of the facts. Typical NYT.
4 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
mackrand 4/3/2020 6:55:48 PM (No. 367614)
NY has been using the hydroxychloroquine for a week now. It’s likely there are no patients for the hospitals Intensive Care facilities.
4 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
DVC 4/3/2020 6:59:29 PM (No. 367620)
NYC and state have been screaming about "needing help"......and then don't use it when it arrives?
Maybe somebody is just a whiner?
10 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Suzi 4/3/2020 7:36:48 PM (No. 367644)
One of the saddest things about this is how many people SHOULD be out on that ship. But they won't be. The patient with the crushing chest pain who decides he shouldn't take the risk of getting CV-19 and dies at home of a massive heart attack, the colon cancer patient who didn't get that colonoscopy last week and is not having life-saving bowel resection this week, the undiagnosed leukemia patient who needs a venous access port TODAY so he can start chemo next week, the undiagnosed breast cancer patient who didn't get that mammogram last week and won't get the lumpectomy this week, the undiagnosed hypertensive patient who needs intervention NOW to save his or her kidneys from the pounding. This is the toll no one is talking about.
13 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
skacmar 4/3/2020 8:16:12 PM (No. 367674)
Don't be mad at the ship, they are not the one's not sending patients. The media seems to always find the one doctor or nurse who can complain and cry the loudest and gives them the soap box to air their complaint to go along with the media's narrative of Trump is doing a bad job. Here, I am sure that they will somehow spin this into Trump /the Feds don't care about New York or their response to all of the people dropping dead in the streets and are probably only letting only rich Trump donors onto the Navy Hospital Ship. It is the land based hospitals responsibility to send patients to the ship. Send them there if they meet the criteria. Otherwise, stop complaining. I understand that many NY hospitals are crazy busy. Many are crazy busy with people made hysterical with worry because of worry due to sensational stories like this one!
8 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
cor-vet 4/3/2020 8:33:55 PM (No. 367683)
I'd be willing to bet that there is a dock along the Mississippi River in New Orleans that could handle that ship. I'm tired of hearing/ reading about the poor New Yorkers that get no respect and no help. they don't really want help, they just want to whine, from their senior senator, crying schumky to the godfather, Don Coumo!
5 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
Sanddollar 4/3/2020 9:00:55 PM (No. 367691)
Just wait. I hope I am wrong that this will be needed in the near future.
2 people like this.
"Build it and they will come."
Reality check. These ships spend 99% of their time sitting idle at piers in Norfolk and San Diego. No doctors, nurses, or corpsmen (not "corpsemen") on board. When deployed (rarely) they're staffed with reservists, a months-long effort to prepare for. The only action they've seen in almost 40 years of service is treating active duty casualties (an all-military exercise, where records and the administrative system are already in place) or third-world good-will visits (where records aren't kept) to give inoculations or perform cleft surgeries. Now, an NYC patient is brought aboard. Who's handling the insurance? Where are the medical records? What authority do these doctors have in terms of releasing them or keeping them confined? Where are the reports going to be sent? Sending in the hospital ships (like sending in the National Guard) sounds like the right thing to do but it's going to take time and learning before the logistical hurdles are overcome and the vision becomes reality.
3 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
kono 4/3/2020 10:27:25 PM (No. 367737)
NYT getting impatient that the death of America, their greatest hope, seems to be delayed. Relax, Slimes, it will eventually come. Maybe not from covid-19 and maybe not for another century or two, and maybe even as part of a calamitous event that claims the entire world at once; but America's end is inevitable. Your hope will be fulfilled, so cheer up.
2 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
coldoc 4/4/2020 1:12:22 AM (No. 367812)
The cynic in me believes the hospital wont refer out a patient with good insurance.
1 person likes this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
Trigger2 4/4/2020 2:28:54 AM (No. 367851)
He grabbed the bulk of the fed warehouse so what he got can sit in a warehouse. Now he's sending out the National Guard to upstate NY (defined as above NYC and LI borders) to confiscate everything those hospitals have. I call it a real life Death Panel decision being invoked to get rid of those pesky voters above the line of NYC and LI and snuff them out once and for all.
0 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
JackBurton 4/4/2020 12:37:46 PM (No. 368377)
Maybe your plague figures were overstated? Exaggerated?
Uh... wrong?
But, hang on. The month is young.
0 people like this.
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