Countdown until we turn the corner on COVID-19.

[Scooter]

You're not going to have neuro or cardiac ICUs onboard a ship. Nor is there likely a single obstetrician onboard. And there's no freaking way anyone is running a MRI on a ship constructed almost entirely of metal.

And if they really can do all those things, why have they taken only 20 patients?

Give your head a shake, this was a PR exercise and nothing more.

[BoSoxGal]

Good article explaining the capacity and limitations of the USNS Comfort (& Mercy):

https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/ ... fort-TAH20

[BoSoxGal]

Your comment about MRIs sent me searching Scooter, because when I worked in the dusty cowboy town with the faltering rural community hospital across the parking lot from the courthouse, I lost my usual parking spot once a month when the traveling MRI came to town - housed in a great big metal truck trailer that was parked across a section of our lot adjacent to the hospital. I was trying to find out how they construct those mobile unit trailers to address the metal issues and I found this somewhat alarming NYT article about MRI accidents:

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/heal ... dents.html

To err is human, inherently.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Had to laugh at this quote from BSG's militaryfactory.com link:

The Navy Department has reviewed the possibility that the Comfort and the Mercy will be retired. In 2004 Vice Adm. Cowan said, "They were designed in the 70's, built in the 80's and, frankly, they are absolute."

[ex-khobar Andy]

I don't think that the metal of the ship is a problem: after all, almost all hospital buildings have a steel skeleton. You just need adequate shielding from radiofrequency (RF) interference caused by motors (vehicles, elevators etc). Essentially build a Faraday cage around it. Of course magnetic metal objects still have to be excluded from the volume within the cage.

[Bicycle Bill]

Had to laugh at this quote from BSG's militaryfactory.com link:

The Navy Department has reviewed the possibility that the Comfort and the Mercy will be retired. In 2004 Vice Adm. Cowan said, "They were designed in the 70's, built in the 80's and, frankly, they are absolute."

According to the IACS (the International Association of Classification Societies, whose classification design, construction and through-life compliance rules and standards apply to more than 90% of the world's cargo-carrying ships), the normal seaworthy life of a ship is 25 years, after which it can undergo major overhaul and repair and be re-certified for an additional 20 years.  Keep in mind that this is for commercial vessels; naval vessels are usually much better maintained and will probably outlast this standard — and often do so.  However, at 40 years old, any ship is getting pretty long in the tooth.

Just as an example, the original Pacific Princess (a/k/a "The Love Boat") was built in Germany in 1971 and sailed as part of the Princess Cruise Line fleet for 31 years until 2002, when it was sold to Pullmantur Cruises, a Spanish company.  Less than ten years later, in 2008, it was taken out of service, laid up, and eventually sold and broken down as scrap.

-"BB"-

[Long Run]

According to the IACS (the International Association of Classification Societies, whose classification design, construction and through-life compliance rules and standards apply to more than 90% of the world's cargo-carrying ships), the normal seaworthy life of a ship is 25 years, after which it can undergo major overhaul and repair and be re-certified for an additional 20 years. Keep in mind that this is for commercial vessels; naval vessels are usually much better maintained and will probably outlast this standard — and often do so. However, at 40 years old, any ship is getting pretty long in the tooth.

Reminds me of this long-time 1-80 East Bay site that is or has disappeared: