As U.S. Hospitals Face Shortages, Trump Vows to Send Ventilators--to Europe
As the coronavirus pandemic has continued to worsen exponentially across the U.S., President Donald Trump has finally acknowledged the need for the increased production of ventilators in recent days, officially invoking the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to manufacture the much-needed medical device. But the president’s news briefing Monday evening suggested that Trump is still downplaying the dire need for ventilators in the country’s fight against COVID-19. Touting recent efforts to ramp up ventilator production in the private sector, Trump claimed Monday that the country is “going to be in very good shape” when it comes to ventilators—so good, in fact, that Trump already is planning to ship the much-needed supplies overseas.
At his Monday briefing—in addition to insisting that his hair is real and inviting MyPillow founder Mike Lindell to urge the importance of prayer—Trump insisted that the current production of ventilators will so outweigh U.S. demand that the country could send the excess to hard-hit European countries. “As we outpace what we need, we’re going to be sending them to Italy, we’re going to be sending them to France, we’re going to be sending them to Spain, where they have tremendous problems, and other countries as we can,” Trump said. “But the fact that we’re doing so many so quickly is a tribute to our great companies.” The president also suggested that the shortage of personal protection equipment for U.S. health care workers was also on its way out, as he promised to send “approximately $100 million worth of things, of surgical and medical and hospital things to Italy.”
The private sector’s production of ventilators has ramped up over the past week, as the coronavirus takes an escalating toll on Americans. In addition to General Motors’ government-compelled efforts to build ventilators, Ford and General Electric have also vowed to manufacture 50,000 ventilators in 100 days, and Trump said Monday that there are 10 American companies who are rapidly increasing their production of the essential medical device. There’s also innovation among the scientific and engineering communities, including a research effort at MIT to construct a low-cost ventilator that could be built quickly for only $100, and coordinated efforts to use 3-D printing to create ventilator parts.
Trump’s refusal to invoke the Defense Production Act until last week, however, put the private sector’s ventilator efforts far behind—and the capacities being produced still might not be able to meet the country’s demand. Though G.M. has said that their efforts will eventually produce 10,000 ventilators per month and Ford and G.E. are vowing to manufacture 50,000, that still falls far short of what could be needed for the coronavirus outbreak. According to the New York Times, U.S. hospitals currently have approximately 160,000 ventilators, along with an additional 12,700 in the National Strategic Stockpile. Per the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, however, as many as 740,000 ventilators could ultimately be needed—and for some states, that need has already arrived. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has made clear that the state needs an “astronomical” number of ventilators to face its overwhelming number of COVID-19 cases, with Dr. Mitchell Katz, the head of NYC Health + Hospitals, predicting Friday that New York City would run out of ventilators by the end of March. In New Jersey, which currently has the second-highest number of cases in the country, Governor Phil Murphy said Monday that state hospitals are “quickly running” toward ventilator capacity, and will be “co-vent[ing]” by using one ventilator for two patients. “I will leave no stone unturned to find the ventilators we need,” Murphy tweeted. “Lives depend on it.” State health officials in Louisiana are also sounding the alarm, estimating that hospitals in New Orleans are expected to run out of ventilators as soon as April 5. Though the federal government is sending Lousiana 150 ventilators, that number falls far short of the 12,000 ventilators that Governor John Bel Edwards has requested from the federal government and private suppliers.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/trump-wants-to-send-europe-ventilators-shortage-coronavirus?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=pol&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=thematic_ballot_040120&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9f8cb24c17c6adf0e5d24&cndid=25394153&utm_term=Thematic_Ballot_Subscribers
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What America does not need is don the con, a failed bankrupt "businessman".
YOU ARE FIRED who needs to toss in the towel and resign as no one seems to know what they are doing, not one bit!
If they do, its plain genocide for all!
& recommend.
