As healthcare officials are warning that COVID-19 infections are about to peak in the US, with anticipation of ghastly numbers of new cases and deaths in the next week or so, FEMA has told Congress that there will not be enough ventilators to go around.
Federal emergency officials told members of Congress last week that the projected demand for ventilators required for coronavirus-stricken patients “outstrips the capacity” of the Strategic National Stockpile.
Officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told members of the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee that 9,500 ventilators were left in the Strategic National Stockpile, with 3,200 more expected to be acquired by April 13.
According to a scathing press release issued by only the Democrats on the committee, that number would fall far short of the amount requested just in New York State, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said first responders expect to need 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators in the next two weeks. Federal officials have already sent more than 4,000 ventilators to the state.
According to the release, FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor “has directed that ventilators be treated as a ‘strategic national asset’ and released to states only after they answer a ‘tough series of questions’ designed to identify an ‘exigent need- to sustain life ‘within 72 hours.'”
President Donald Trump has said help is on the way in the form of 100,000 ventilators that are being manufactured, but FEMA officials said the bulk of those would not be available “until late June at the earliest,” the Dem’s release said.
Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said in a statement, “The president must act immediately to take all steps within his authority to get personal protective equipment and medical supplies to our nation’s frontline responders who are risking everything to save their fellow Americans.”
On Thursday, Trump announced that he was using the Defense Production Act to help the companies making ventilators get the supplies they need to speed up production.
Trump said the “order will save lives by removing obstacles in the supply chain that threaten the rapid production of ventilators.”