Hospital Ship USNS Comfort to Start Accepting COVID-19 Patients

Posted on 8 April, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

The USNS hospital ship Comfort is seen docked at Pier 90 on Manhattan’s West Side as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in New York City, New York, U.S., April 7, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

The U.S. Department of Defense has opened the hospital ship USNS Comfort to patients with COVID-19 in order to relieve pressure on New York area hospitals, the Northern Command announced Tuesday.

“Effective immediately, USNS Comfort will accept trauma, emergency and urgent care patients without regard to their COVID-19 status,” the Northern Command said in a statement.

The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) arrived in New York on March 30, 2020, bringing with it 1,000 hospital beds and hundreds of medical staff in support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts. Its intention was to serve as a referral hospital only for non-COVID-19 patients admitted to shore-based hospitals.

The USNS Comfort passes Manhattan as it enters New York Harbor during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Despite the extra capacity that the ship brings, the government has come under fire for it being underutilized with only about 20 patients admitted on board as of last Thursday, the New York Times reported.

A makeshift hospital set up at New York’s Javits Center continues to serve as the U.S. Department of Defense’s primary facility for treating COVID-19 patients. It is now also accepting COVID-19 patients.

“For the Comfort to really … be a part of the relief for the pressure on the New York City hospitals, we have to be able to do this,” said Navy Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, Commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet, during a telephone news conference. “This is where there are a tremendous number of patients in hospitals, most of which are COVID-positive.”

Comfort is planned to focus high severity COVID patients, with more mild cases being handled by Javits Center.

“The ability to take COVID-19 patients onboard USNS Comfort provides increased capability to care for high severity COVID-positive cases, allowing the Javits New York Medical Station to focus on lower severity COVID-positive patients,” the Northern Command said.

Crew Member Sick

Also, onboard Comfort is over 70 civil service mariners responsible for operating the ship and navigation. On Monday, Politico reported that one of those crew members had tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently being isolated along with others on the ship.

Allowing COVID-19-positive patients onboard raises further questions about the safety of workers, both medical staff and its crew members.

Vice Adm. Lewis said that to ensure the ship’s crew remains healthy, the ship has been divided into a “red zone” where patients are located and a “green zone,” where the ship’s non-medical crew operates.

“We’re fully transitioned,” Lewis said. “We’ve done some minor configurations on ship, and there is no risk to any of the patients that are non-COVID at this time. We were able to isolate within the ship non-COVID patients from the COVID-positive patients.”

Lewis also added that there are currently no plans for the hospital ship USNS Mercy, now in Los Angeles, to make the same transition.

U.S. Northern Command is leading Defense Department operations against COVID-19 in the United States.

Saudi Arabia buys a piece of Carnival Corp.

Posted on 7 April, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has acquired an 8.2% stake in Carnival Corp.

According to Carnival Corp.’s securities filing on Monday, Saudi Arabia acquired 43.51 million Carnival shares. Carnival’s closing stock price of $8.49 last Friday makes the transaction worth about $370 million.

With the news, Carnival Corp.’s share price increased 22% on Monday afternoon. The company’s stock has fallen about 80% since mid-January.

Like other cruise companies, Carnival Corp. has paused its operations since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Cruising has been suspended through the middle of May.

Carnival Corp. last week shored up its liquidity, securing about $500 million from a stock sale and about $5.75 billion on the bond market.

Carnival Corp. borrowed at a high cost. The company is paying 11.5% interest on $4 billion in three-year senior secured notes and 5.75% interest on $1.75 billion in three-year senior convertible notes.

Coral Princess docks in Fort Lauderdale

Posted on 6 April, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

Another cruise ship with coronavirus victims onboard, including two fatalities, docked in Florida on Saturday.

Princess Cruises spokeswoman Negin Kamali said in an email that the Coral Princess was docking in Miami. The ship with 1,020 passengers and 878 crew members had been in limbo for days awaiting permission to dock.

As of Thursday, Kamali said seven passengers and five crew members had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Anyone in need of hospitalization would disembark first, the cruise line said, although it wasn’t immediately clear when that would happen. Those fit to fly were to begin leaving on Sunday, while others with symptoms of respiratory illness would remain on board until cleared by ship doctors.

A day earlier, the cruise ships Zaandam and Rotterdam were permitted to dock at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, with 14 critically ill people taken immediately to hospitals. The remaining passengers were slowly being allowed to board flights for home.

Schuttevaer – 100ste aankomst van ms Rotterdam

The Coral Princess had been on a South American cruise that was due to end March 19 in Buenos Aires. Since then, the ship has encountered obstacles to docking because of various port closures and cancellation of airline flights, the cruise line said.

Passengers have self-isolated in their staterooms and meals have been delivered by room service. Crew members also have remained in their quarters when they are not working.

The Coast Guard said in a news release Saturday it has been involved with processing about 120 vessels carrying some 250,000 passengers over the past three weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Coast Guard statement said as of Saturday there are 114 cruise ships carrying 93,000 crew members either in or near U.S. ports and waters. That includes 73 cruise ships with 52,000 crew members moored or anchored in U.S. ports and anchorages.

The cruise line industry announced a voluntary suspension of most ship operations from U.S. ports on March 13. The next day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a “no sail” order to all cruise ships that had not suspended operations.

“We commend the decision by the cruise industry to cease operations. However, pausing a global tourist industry does not happen instantaneously or easily,” said Vice Admiral Dan Abel, Coast Guard deputy commandant for operations. “The federal, state, local and industry cooperation to achieve this feat truly represents the whole-of-nation approach directed by the president and is essential to fighting the spread of this virus and working to minimize the loss of life.”

Princess Cruises is a brand of Miami-based Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise company.