6 ms·

The 1k-Bed Comfort Was Supposed to Aid New York. It Has 20 Patients

41 points by kull 7y ago

twomoretime 7y ago
You know, there's been a common pattern among all of these screwups recently. The people in charge and involved don't seem to know what they're doing. It's as if all of our systems are being tested, and they're all failing. There are systemic problems in the US that desperately need to be addressed. Perhaps this virus will force us to do so...one way or another.
- imgabe 7y ago
  It's almost as if choosing leaders based on whose soundbites generate the most media coverage isn't a good idea.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
throwaway5752 7y ago
It excludes COVID-19 patients. Patients have to be evaluated at local hospitals (presumably, contracting COVID-19). “If I’m blunt about it, it’s a joke,” Michael Dowling, the head of New York’s Northwell Health hospital system, told the Times. Northwell has 70,000 employees.
dboreham 7y ago
You could see this coming days ago when it was announced these ships would be for "non-virus patients". Obviously there's no way to know for sure that someone doesn't have the virus, in any reasonable time, even if you do test them .
tgtweak 7y ago
I assumed it was there for overflow of non-covid patients, is that not the case? Are NY hospitals over capacity? edit: seems this is addressed later in the article but for some reason NYT is paywalling/registerwalling this after the fold for me.
- jfim 7y ago
  From TFA: > Ambulances cannot take patients directly to the Comfort; they must first deliver patients to a city hospital for a lengthy evaluation — including a test for the virus — and then pick them up again for transport to the ship. > Ultimately, Mr. Dowling and others said, if the Comfort refuses to take Covid patients, there are few patients to send. And given the pernicious spread of the disease in New York City, where nearly 50,000 were infected as of Thursday, dividing patients into those who have it and those who do not is pointless, he said.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    Given the proximity to Javitz you'd think they'd have a Covid wing for handling these cases.
  - monkpit 7y ago
    Why do people insist on using ‘TFA’? Bugs me every time I see that on HN.
- arshbot 7y ago
  According to the article > Mr. Dowling said he has had to tear his hospitals apart, retrofitting any unused space, including lobbies and conference rooms, into hospital wards. His facilities now house 2,800 so-called Covid patients, up from 100 on March 20, he said. > Across the city, hospitals are overrun. Patients have died in hallways before they could even be hooked up to one of the few available ventilators in New York I think it's safe to conclude yes
- lilSebastian 7y ago
  Did you read the article or just the headline?
  - tgtweak 7y ago
    It's paywalled for me after the title and photo, from the other replies it looks like these questions were addressed in the full article.
jariel 7y ago
Shouldn't be cynical, it could be a matter of rampup, other hospitals knowing when to send, when not to, testing problems etc.. In not a long time it could very well be full.
blhack 7y ago
This hospital ship was meant to house non-covid patients. It's meant as surge capacity for the NY hospital system. Of course it isn't full yet. Of course it isn't full of covid patients right now, it isn't ever supposed to be full of covid patients. It's not a joke. The joke is that the Ny Times of all places let this ridiculous article go to print when a simple search, or even a summary of the DAILY press conferences where this is covered would have explained the situation. If NY thinks it's a joke, and it isn't being useful by being there, then NY should be calling for it to be sent somewhere else. I bet the 20 patients who are there now sure are happy to have a hospital that isn't infected with the virus[1] right now. As a side note: this brand of journalism is disgusting to me. Articles like this absolutely do not help anyone. You can lump this sort of thing right in with the people who ask EVERY SINGLE DAY why we didn't start acting sooner. EVERY DAY they ask this at the press conference. People want to know things like when they can get tested, if their parents are going to die, or if they're going to be able to pay for food this week. But every day they waste this precious time we get with these experts asking stupid self-serving questions like why we didn't start sooner. What possible answer to the question could help any of the very real existential problems Americans and their families are facing right now? [1]: There needs to be an easier name than "sars cov2" for this. It only creates confusion where people either choose to call it "coronavirus" or "covid".
- chrisco255 7y ago
  Exactly. And it's not like they're going to wheel 1000 patients out of the hospitals they are currently in out onto the streets of NYC and fill the ship up in 3 days. It's ridiculous. The logistics of that alone would be untenable. The patient count will obviously grow with time. Super irresponsible from NYT.
- admax88q 7y ago
  Comeon dont be overly pedantic. If you call it coronavirus or covid or covid19 everyone knows what you're talking about. There is no confusion.
- 93po 7y ago
  Journalism is dead
kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
Let's all watch the Magnificent Leader play the blame game on this one.
dmckeon 7y ago
We should not be surprised - this is what Puerto Rico saw after Maria: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-hospital-ship.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-... > The ship was prepared to support 250 hospital beds, but over its 53-day deployment, which included travel to and from the island, it admitted an average of only six patients a day, or 290 in total. An additional 1,625 people were treated aboard the ship as outpatients, all at no cost.

41 points by kull 7y ago

You know, there's been a common pattern among all of these screwups recently. The people in charge and involved don't seem to know what they're doing. It's as if all of our systems are being tested, and they're all failing. There are systemic problems in the US that desperately need to be addressed. Perhaps this virus will force us to do so...one way or another.

imgabe 7y ago
It's almost as if choosing leaders based on whose soundbites generate the most media coverage isn't a good idea.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

throwaway5752 7y ago

It excludes COVID-19 patients. Patients have to be evaluated at local hospitals (presumably, contracting COVID-19). “If I’m blunt about it, it’s a joke,” Michael Dowling, the head of New York’s Northwell Health hospital system, told the Times. Northwell has 70,000 employees.

dboreham 7y ago

You could see this coming days ago when it was announced these ships would be for "non-virus patients". Obviously there's no way to know for sure that someone doesn't have the virus, in any reasonable time, even if you do test them .

tgtweak 7y ago

I assumed it was there for overflow of non-covid patients, is that not the case? Are NY hospitals over capacity? edit: seems this is addressed later in the article but for some reason NYT is paywalling/registerwalling this after the fold for me.

jfim 7y ago
From TFA: > Ambulances cannot take patients directly to the Comfort; they must first deliver patients to a city hospital for a lengthy evaluation — including a test for the virus — and then pick them up again for transport to the ship. > Ultimately, Mr. Dowling and others said, if the Comfort refuses to take Covid patients, there are few patients to send. And given the pernicious spread of the disease in New York City, where nearly 50,000 were infected as of Thursday, dividing patients into those who have it and those who do not is pointless, he said.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  Given the proximity to Javitz you'd think they'd have a Covid wing for handling these cases.
- monkpit 7y ago
  Why do people insist on using ‘TFA’? Bugs me every time I see that on HN.
arshbot 7y ago
According to the article > Mr. Dowling said he has had to tear his hospitals apart, retrofitting any unused space, including lobbies and conference rooms, into hospital wards. His facilities now house 2,800 so-called Covid patients, up from 100 on March 20, he said. > Across the city, hospitals are overrun. Patients have died in hallways before they could even be hooked up to one of the few available ventilators in New York I think it's safe to conclude yes
lilSebastian 7y ago
Did you read the article or just the headline?
- tgtweak 7y ago
  It's paywalled for me after the title and photo, from the other replies it looks like these questions were addressed in the full article.

jariel 7y ago

Shouldn't be cynical, it could be a matter of rampup, other hospitals knowing when to send, when not to, testing problems etc.. In not a long time it could very well be full.

blhack 7y ago

This hospital ship was meant to house non-covid patients. It's meant as surge capacity for the NY hospital system. Of course it isn't full yet. Of course it isn't full of covid patients right now, it isn't ever supposed to be full of covid patients. It's not a joke. The joke is that the Ny Times of all places let this ridiculous article go to print when a simple search, or even a summary of the DAILY press conferences where this is covered would have explained the situation. If NY thinks it's a joke, and it isn't being useful by being there, then NY should be calling for it to be sent somewhere else. I bet the 20 patients who are there now sure are happy to have a hospital that isn't infected with the virus[1] right now. As a side note: this brand of journalism is disgusting to me. Articles like this absolutely do not help anyone. You can lump this sort of thing right in with the people who ask EVERY SINGLE DAY why we didn't start acting sooner. EVERY DAY they ask this at the press conference. People want to know things like when they can get tested, if their parents are going to die, or if they're going to be able to pay for food this week. But every day they waste this precious time we get with these experts asking stupid self-serving questions like why we didn't start sooner. What possible answer to the question could help any of the very real existential problems Americans and their families are facing right now? [1]: There needs to be an easier name than "sars cov2" for this. It only creates confusion where people either choose to call it "coronavirus" or "covid".

chrisco255 7y ago
Exactly. And it's not like they're going to wheel 1000 patients out of the hospitals they are currently in out onto the streets of NYC and fill the ship up in 3 days. It's ridiculous. The logistics of that alone would be untenable. The patient count will obviously grow with time. Super irresponsible from NYT.
admax88q 7y ago
Comeon dont be overly pedantic. If you call it coronavirus or covid or covid19 everyone knows what you're talking about. There is no confusion.
93po 7y ago
Journalism is dead

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago

Let's all watch the Magnificent Leader play the blame game on this one.

dmckeon 7y ago

We should not be surprised - this is what Puerto Rico saw after Maria: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-hospital-ship.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-... > The ship was prepared to support 250 hospital beds, but over its 53-day deployment, which included travel to and from the island, it admitted an average of only six patients a day, or 290 in total. An additional 1,625 people were treated aboard the ship as outpatients, all at no cost.