University of Illinois has developed a prototype of a ventilator. It can be done.

[davsand]

Right now the news is overwhelmingly, unrelentingly, painful. Take heart, there are things happening right now that can maybe lighten a bit if the darkness. This project can save lives.

https://carle.org/newsroom/staying-healthy/2020/03/carle-uofi-develop-emergency-ventilator-prototype

Carle, Grainger College of Engineering develop working prototype of emergency ventilator working prototype of emergency ventilator for COVID-19 patients

The Illinois RapidVent emergency ventilator was developed in less than a week, and preliminary tests show performance equivalent to commercial devices; additional tests ongoing

A team led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering and Carle Health has produced a prototype emergency ventilator to help address the expected surge in the need for respiratory care associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Find out more about the prototype at http://rapidvent.grainger.illinois.edu.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. The University of Minnesota has one, too:

https://www.startribune.com/university-of-minnesota-is-going-full-on-macgyver-against-covid-19/569000032/

[True Blue American]

3. In Ohio

De Wine announced they have 2 machines that can sanitize 80,000 masks, allowing them to be reused. Asking the FDA to approve. Several other states are waiting,too.

[underpants]

2. Dyson has one too in the UK and is supposed to be cranking them out soon

[msongs]

4. theyre popping up all over the place. will trump suppress them? nt

[Igel]

9. There are undoubtedly regulations.

Things that say how accurate they must be, have failsafes built in, be good for so many hours and be OSHA-compliant so it doesn't safe the patient but pose a hazard to the staff.


But still, there will be regulations that production would have meet, and those might involve testing. We'd insist on them most of the time, when we have no skin in the game, or when we feel threatened by the possibility of something that might not be up to standards.

Some of it might even not just be regulations based on generic safety statutes but baked into the text of actual statute, in which case waivers might be tricky.

[SheltieLover]

5. Yaaaaay!

[Sherman A1]

6. K&R

[Totally Tunsie]

7. Let's start producing ventilators on a 3D printer.

https://www.3dnatives.com/en/3d-printed-respirator-230320205/

[davsand]

8. There is a place for some optimism!