President Trump cast doubt Thursday on New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s assertion that his state, which has become the epicenter for the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, will need 30,000 ventilators to properly care for the influx of patients anticipated to flood hospitals in coming weeks.
“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a phone interview. “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’”
trump seems to genuinely think all you need is one or two ventilators per hospital. As though hospitals should have only one or two beds for patients to share, or one or two IV bags or... excuse me. I just need to scream for a second here JESUS GODDAMN CHRIST TRUMP IS A GODDAMN IDIOT WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK ARE WE... ahem, back to the report:
The president’s comments came shortly after the New York Times reported that the White House had abruptly called off a plan to announce this week that General Motors and Ventec Life Systems would be partnering up to produce as many as 80,000 ventilators, citing concerns with the deal’s $1 billion price tag.
For those of us not fully informed to what a ventilator is and why they can get a bit pricey, here's our NIH government website about it:
A ventilator (VEN-til-a-tor) is a machine that supports breathing. These machines mainly are used in hospitals. Ventilators:
* Get oxygen into the lungs.
* Remove carbon dioxide from the body. (Carbon dioxide is a waste gas that can be toxic.)
* Help people breathe easier.
* Breathe for people who have lost all ability to breathe on their own.
A ventilator often is used for short periods, such as during surgery when you're under general anesthesia (AN-es-THE-ze-ah). The term "anesthesia" refers to a loss of feeling and awareness. General anesthesia temporarily puts you to sleep.
The medicines used to induce anesthesia can disrupt normal breathing. A ventilator helps make sure that you continue breathing during surgery.
A ventilator also may be used during treatment for a serious lung disease or other condition that affects normal breathing.
Some people may need to use ventilators long term or for the rest of their lives. In these cases, the machines can be used outside of the hospital—in long-term care facilities or at home.
A ventilator doesn't treat a disease or condition. It's used only for life support.Simple explanation for why a ventilator is needed: Without a ventilator, the patient is going to drown in their own lungs.
Given how such a machine is working on keeping the lungs going, it's kind of hard to imagine forcing more than one person to get plugged into such a machine. So if a state is BEGGING for 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators at one time, it's because that state is realizing they're going to have 30,000 to 40,000 people needing it at one time.
/headdesking
Given what the ventilator does, it has to manage the flow of oxygen in and carbon dioxide out, so it needs a number of sensors and computers monitoring all of that, upping the price. There needs to be backups installed to avoid any part of the ventilator failing at any given moment. Ever notice in the medical TV shows that tall stand of digital equipment next to each hospital bed? That's the ventilator. Don't think something like that can get put together for $100 each.
There's more than one state needing ventilators, by the by.
There's supposed to be a law called the Defense Production Act that a President can activate to get manufacturers to redirect efforts towards making specific equipment. There's supposed to be a DPA order in effect right now... except
Again, trump does not understand, does not comprehend the forces at play here. He can't comprehend the scope of the crisis, he refuses to admit to earlier missteps which leads to making even more missteps now.
trump CANNOT COMPREHEND A GODDAMN THING IF IT'S SOMETHING HE CANNOT PERSONALLY PROFIT FROM. And unless you're a hoarder you cannot profit off a plague.
And that means the rest of us are screwed.
Addendum: Peter Wehrer's article in the Atlantic is a must-read:
...But in this instance, Trump isn’t facing a political problem he can easily spin his way out of. He’s facing a lethal virus. It doesn’t give a damn what Donald Trump thinks of it or tweets about it. Spin and lies about COVID-19, including that it will soon magically disappear, as Trump claimed it would, don’t work. In fact, they have the opposite effect. Misinformation will cause the virus to increase its deadly spread.
So as the crisis deepens—as the body count increases, hospitals are overwhelmed, and the economy contracts, perhaps dramatically—it’s reasonable to assume that the president will reach for the tools he has used throughout his life: duplicity and denial. He will not allow facts that are at odds with his narrative to pierce his magnetic field of deception...
Again. We're screwed.
1 comment:
Some doctors and hospitals are experimenting with using one ventilator on two patients, but they make it clear that doing so is only an option of the last resort to be used when the other option is death.
Also, while that might functionally turn two ventilators into four, it will not, in fact, turn 4,200 of them into 30,000.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
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