Muted homecoming for USNS Comfort

Ship homecomings are a family event that generally pack the end of a pier waving signs and waiting for a loved ones to come ashore. The Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort sidled up to Pier 12 at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., early May 2nd to no fanfare. Families were relegated to their cars to maintain social distancing, but many of the 1,200 sailors returning may not even be going directly home after disembarking. NAS Meridian, Miss., base clinic Hospital Corpsman Chad Nelson was among those sailors serving aboard the hospital ship in NYC. Comfort arrived early Saturday morning after spending Friday moored outside f the Hampton Roads Harbor while the ship was disinfected and the crew tested for the virus. “We saw everything that (NYC hospitals) saw,” Capt. Patrick Amersbach, commander of Comfort’s medical personnel, told the Virginian-Pilot. “We were the busiest ICU in the Department of Defense over the past month.” The ship treated 182 patients. Twenty-five were on ventilators and cases with multiple organ failures, necessitating a great deal of one-on-one care from the medical staff, Amersbach said. Every sailor leaving the ship will spend the next 14 days under quarantine, said Capt. Joseph O’Brien, mission commander of Task Force New York. Some can abide by those guidelines at home, others will be housed in barracks or hotel by the Navy. After those 14 days, they will be tested again. Instead of eager families waiting, a caravan of white buses was lined up at the end of the pier to cart crew members to quarantine quarters. “It’s different, yeah, but everything’s different,” O’Brien said. (Virginian-Pilot 05/03/20) 

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