Max Winfrey
Convert Idle Cruise Ships into Mobile Hospitals.
Here's an interesting idea that a friend who works in procurement had. I greatly expounded on it with some theory on how it could possibly be executed. There are many brilliant people way smarter than me who may read this and have far better solutions on how to tweak it for success.
Problem : How do we handle finding beds for the sick if our hospitals get overwhelmed with pandemic victims when waves of sick people flood the hospitals in similar fashion to what is happening overseas?
Solution : Ask willing and near bankrupt cruise lines for use of their idle ships to be mobilized as floating hospitals to major metropolitan areas on the coasts where the hospitals are over capacity.
Make it a military operation and use Navy personnel to run the ships. If crew decks cannot be be secured with their own pumped in ventilation, you can house medical workers and other critical personnel in the cruise terminals at the docks or at nearby empty hotels instead of sleeping on board. Alternatively, some ships could be used for non-virus related care to allow existing hospitals to concentrate their efforts solely on the pandemic.
In exchange for use of the ships, cruise lines would receive guaranteed extensions on their loans or other government help with getting back into operation once the pandemic is over. The goodwill exhibited toward the public would likely be the kind of positive publicity the cruise industry needs when passenger operations restart.
Summation : The cruise industry has often pitched in to help during challenging times. They've been troop carriers during wars and provided housing during hurricanes and other catastrophes. I believe there are smart and talented people who could get this up and running quickly in order to meet demand if data begins to show that the hospitals will get overrun.
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