(12-18-2020, 11:46 PM)dabigv13 Wrote: That hospital ship might actually get used this time, at least if they do it as covid care only. Maybe the Navy will be more on board with the plan when presumably they will have vaccinated workers.
Problem is that most of the staff to fully man the hospital ships are reservists from Southern California who are kind of busy with their day jobs. The "military" that normally gets deployed for natural disasters is largely National Guard, who are initially from the area where the disaster hit. If more resources are needed, it is National Guard from other states. Right now, both such groups are pretty busy doing their day jobs. If there were areas in California or nearby states that were not badly affected by COVID-19 it would be possible. However that isn't the case ATM.
The active duty military can provide warm bodies, but the active duty medical staff is not large and usually needs to be "filled out" with reservists to be fully capable. They can also provide SAR and engineering support. If we needed a bridge built, they could do it. Beyond that, not so much.