The USNS Comfort docked in New York City on March 30th at 10 A.M. The Navy’s hospital ship was sent to New York in order to prevent the overcrowding of hospitals. The intent was for people with non-coronavirus related health issues to be sent to the ship so that hospitals would have plenty of space to treat Covid-19 patients. Equipped with one thousand hospital beds and twelve fully functional operating rooms, the USNS Comfort has aided the military in crises all over the world, and it has quite a history.
The 40+ year old ship last docked in New York City following the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001. Hundreds of first responders were able to receive treatment on the ship. The USNS’ most recent voyage was to Latin America where it provided aid to the people of countries with under-resourced healthcare systems.
The USNS Comfort was not built as a hospital ship. In 1976, the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company built the massive boat as an oil supertanker. Formerly the SS Rose City, the U.S. Navy bought two ships, both supertankers, in 1987. The Comfort’s twin ship, the USNS Mercy, is currently docked in Los Angeles.
The boat is massive, standing upright at one hundred feet tall, nearly nine hundred feet long. When floating, it displaces around seventy thousand tons of water. Despite its original oil super tank build, it has been fully transformed into a hospital ship. The medical facility of the ship contains a CT scanner, dental clinic, x-ray machines, an optometry lab, and coolers capable of storing thousands of units of blood.
Notwithstanding the size of the boat, however, there were only twenty patients being treated on the ship as of last week. The USNS Mercy only holds 15 in Los Angeles. Michael Dowling, the Chief Executive Officer of Northwell Health has spoken about the ship’s lack of effectiveness since its deployment to New York City. Dowling said, “It’s pretty ridiculous. If you’re not going to help us with the people we need help with, what’s the purpose?” He also said, “If I’m blunt about it, it’s a joke.” It appears that hospitals are continuing to struggle with the COVID-19 outbreak, and unfortunately, it has become evident that the USNS Comfort has not been the greatest help.
