An open-source project is currently underway called CURA or Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments and will turn ordinary shipping containers into plug-in Intensive Care Unit Pods in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CURApods website states:
Our aim is to support hospitals and communities as they struggle to treat an increasing number of patients with respiratory infections, [the project] aims to facilitate the work of medical staff and avoiding cross-infection and hospital bottle-neck.
This collaborative international effort involves medical professionals, military experts, engineers, and designers, and is part of the World Economic Forum’s Shaping the Future of Cities, Infrastructure and Urban Services Platform. Workers on the project include Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota, Jacobs engineering studio, and Squint/Opera digital studio.
The first units being constructed in Milan, Italy will be a big improvement over free-standing hospital tents. The 20-feet (6.1m) intermodal containers will be connected by inflatable structures allowing for multiple configurations that are reversible and re-usable hospital pods, with window cut-outs.
According to the World Economic Forum, the units will be as safe as an isolation ward by using biocontainment and negative pressure. To reduce further spread of viruses, an extractor creates indoor negative pressure that will allow air to flow into the units but not out. The units will fully comply with the standards of Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs).
Tailoring the units for the current coronavirus pandemic, the CURA pods will be as quick to assemble as current hospital tents but much more effective. Self-standing field hospitals can easily be set up in varying sizes from 4 beds to more than 40, and these can also serve as ICU overflow units in hospital parking lots.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused shortages around the world for hospital ICU units especially in Italy, the U.S., China, and Spain. With COVID-19 showing no signs of slowing down, the demand for these units is expected to increase. The CURA pods will offer immediate assistance to hospitals and are expected to be used around the world.
CURA has been developed as a non-profit open-source that welcomes suggestions for improvements. More information can be found at CURApods.org.
