Which of your ukuleles would you take with you into an isolation ward?

actadh

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A New York doctor being treated for Ebola has found another way to pass the time in a hospital isolation ward: He's playing his guitar, city health officials say.

Dr. Craig Spencer, 33, has been in isolation at Bellevue Hospital since being diagnosed with Ebola last month. He’s now listed in stable condition, and city officials said he continues to improve.

Spencer is spending his time in the hospital strumming his guitar and riding a stationary bike as he recovers, the officials told ABC News.


http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ebola-infected-nyc-doctor-strums-guitar-pass-time/story?id=26714595

Assuming you have more than one ukulele, which one would you take with you into an isolation ward?

I probably would take my Luna solid spruce top concert. It is a nice and dependable ukulele. If it did get kind of ooky from being in isolation or I had to leave it there, it is easily replaced.
 
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Interesting thought. Can you get it virus free? (A question also relevant to community used instruments when other viruses are rampant).

BTW- my Lanikai Monkeypod. Great player but i wouldn't cry if it went hazmat.
 
Interesting thought. Can you get it virus free? (A question also relevant to community used instruments when other viruses are rampant).

BTW- my Lanikai Monkeypod. Great player but i wouldn't cry if it went hazmat.

I wondered that, too. Would it have to go through a 21 day quarantine as well?
 
My Pono concert mahogany. Great tone, Ko'olau Alohi strings easy on my fingers, light weight, and fretboard just perfect for me.
 
I think I'd take a banjolele, nice and loud, and be sure you can never get it in tune. The louder and more obnoxious the music, the better chance they'd give up on quarantine and just let me go home.
 
I would take one I would not mind throwing away, afterward. I have a feeling he wont be leaving there with his guitar.
 
I only have two: Kala KA-SMHT (solid mahogany tenor), and Kala KA-PWT (laminate Pacific walnut tenor). Any kind of field trip, particularly to an isolation ward, would probably include the more durable and inexpensive PWT.
 
I would probably grab the nearest uke available as they dragged me away. The isolation room should have top rate HVAC equipment and HEPA filters to boot. Humidity will be no concern. Sterilization of the uke might be a problem. The isolation unit should have large enough autoclaves to handle the uke. But steam cleaning the uke at 274 degrees for three minutes is not likely to be good for a wooden uke. A plastic uke might be OK though.
 
Could I buy a Clara?
 
My least expensive one, my Kala laminate...it sounds great, but it wouldn't break my heart if it had to be cremated. I've been locked in with a lot of dying people with it.
 
Why is there a reason to think that the instrument will be contaminated? I thought ebola did not last out in the air for all that long. I would take my best sounding and playing uke, a Kala tenor cutaway, solid cedar/acacia with Aquila strings and electronics.
 
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Should any of us find ourselves in this horrible plight yes I think a uke could be contaminated. We find evidence of body fluids on our ukes all the time oils on strings and finishes for example. If the virus were to be embedded in these oils its not really in the air is it? Its not really our call in this case anyway. The doctors and officials will make their own judgements and take precautions. I should hope they would. When I hear the numbers of infected people in Africa it makes me shudder. Poor devils. What really concerns me the most is when officials talk of sending troops to "fight the disease". Two out of three deaths in the civil war were caused by disease and poor sanitation in less than sterile conditions. Two out of three casualties in WWII were likewise caused by disease and poor sanitation. Remember the war on drugs? on poverty? America likes to bring its boys and girls back from conflicts. Sorry to be so gloomy here but frankly it scares me shitless.
 
Unless your ukulele bleeds, vomits or poops on you, you're probably gonna be okay once you get out.
I only have 2 choices and it wouldn't be my cheap toy one. My Gretsch isn't overly expensive if for some reason I DID have to leave it behind.
 
In the 1960s in this country the army had mobile hospital units, the hardware was in storage and the doctors and nurses normally held down jobs in the various hospitals. About once a year everything would come out of mothballs and be set up for a week or two. The whole thing would then be packed up again and everybody would head back to their normal job, It must have looked somewhat like the famous 4077 MASH.

I don't know, but I suspect that budget cuts killed these off decades ago.

The least loved ukulele would accompany me to isolation - just in case. Hard choice.
 
My collection no longer has an ablative layer so unless I was absolutely sure it wouldn't be 'decomtaminated', I just take my old iPod.
 
My Flea Soprano. Odds are that the environment will result in drops, spills and other "oops" situations. So, the most durable instrument wins...
 
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