The times, they are a’changing…
Il y a 18 mois, l’USNS Comfort apportait ses soins aux Vénézuéliens (et aux Colombiens, cf. ►https://seenthis.net/messages/723968 ), aujourd’hui, il ira à New-York (dès qu’il pourra…) Et tant pis si,
• il n’est pas disponible tout de suite
• il n’est pas prévu pour traiter une épidémie
#tout_dans_la_com'
U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Weeks Away From New York Deployment - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/navy-hospital-ship-sailing-to-new-york-harbor-cuomo-says
• Cases in state almost double since Tuesday as virus spreads
• Governor tells most businesses to send half of workers home
The Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort will be dispatched to New York City as coronavirus cases almost doubled, Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters in Albany on Wednesday.
The floating hospital, which has previously been sent to disaster zones such as Haiti and post-Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, can help free 1,000 beds when it arrives in a few weeks, the governor said. Another ship, the Mercy, will head to the West Coast. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on Tuesday that hospital ships aren’t equipped to handle infectious disease patients but could provide care for trauma victims, allowing more beds in hospitals on land to handle those with the coronavirus.
The Comfort is sailing from Norfolk, Virginia, which has a major naval base, and the Mercy is docked at its home port in San Diego, California. Each ship is capable of carrying 12 fully equipped operating rooms, a medical laboratory and pharmacy, as well as providing digital radiological services, CAT scans and oxygen production, according to the Navy. The crews can each include as many as 1,200 medical and communications personnel.
The Comfort isn’t ready to deploy because it’s undergoing maintenance, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters. It will move in weeks, rather than days, he said. The Mercy will depart sooner.