A Desperate Need For Hospital Ventilators

  As someone who was saved, many years ago, by being on a ventilator due to an almost-life  ending allergic reaction, I can certainly testify to the fact that they are desperately needed.  Having worked in a tertiary care Teaching Hospital, and being trained to work in all units, including the ICUs, I have a working knowledge of ventilators and respirators, their uses and normal functions.
  As someone who is a "highly susceptible"- rated person in this COVID-19 outbreak, due to my age, chronic hypertension, and COPD, I can truly appreciate the need for breathing machines.  And, finally, having been diagnosed 3 times with pneumonia while here in Colorado, and since I only have Medicare coverage, and was sent home with medications and instructions each time I was diagnosed, I can really appreciate the need for ventilators and respirators.  Two of the three times I was diagnosed I was ill, in bed, for more than 9 weeks; and those two times, friends thought they'd find me dead in my bed each day for several weeks....  But I managed to hang on.
 
   So, first, from "Talking Points Memo" a column written by Cristina Cabrera, published today:
" Trump Claims NY Doesn't Need 30K Ventilators Despite Doctors Saying So
   In his ongoing campaign to play down the COVID-19 outbreak, President Donald Trump on Thursday night tried to cast doubt on the ventilator shortage crisis in New York hospitals.
   Trump claimed during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) request for an additional 30,000 ventilators was overblown.
   "I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators," the President told Hannity.  "You go into major hospitals sometimes and they'll have two ventilators," he continued. "And now all of a  sudden they're saying 'Can we order 30,000 ventilators?'"
   Trump piggybacked that comment with yet another push for Americans to go back to work as soon as possible despite medical professionals' emphasis on social distancing to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. "So it's a very bad situation, we haven't seen anything like it but the end result is we've got to get back to work," Trump said. "And I think we can start by opening up certain parts of the country."
   In reality, numerous health care workers have sounded the alarm over the shortage of ventilators, which are critical to combating the deadly virus. Dr. Colleen SMith, an emergency room doctor at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, New York, told the New York Times that her hospital had only received five ventilators one day.  "Unless people die, I suspect we'll be back to needing to beg for ventilators again in another day or two," she said.

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From today US edition of The Guardian, an article from Daniel Strauss:

  "How US governors are fighting coronavirus - and Donald Trump

   America's state governors have found themselves under an intense national spotlight in response to the coronavirus pandemic.  The additional scrutiny has also highlighted an evolving dynamic between these chief executives who operate the country's states and a White House run by a mercurial president whose public statements and policy turns are often impossible to predict.

   As the virus crisis has grown stronger governors' daily press conferences and media calls on the coronavirus have become prime time events for a worried and often fearful populace. Governors, the typically aloof top state officials, are currently some of the most reliable sources of information on confirmed COVID-19 cases and updates on medical supplies in response to the virus.  "The governors are acting in a way governors traditionally act, it just so happens that governors have more of an audience for it now," said the former Delaware governor Jack Markell, a Democrat.   

   Responses to the pandemic have varied from state to state. Partially because not every governor has the same amount of authority.  Some governors can activate the national guard or order schools closed essentially on their own.  Others have had to take legislative routes or make other bureaucratic moves. 

   There have been some markings of a deeper ideological divide to responding to the virus.  Some Republican governors, such as Arizona's Doug Ducey, have loudly touted new partnerships with private business to fight the pandemic while some Democrats have leaned more on executive orders to slow the outbreak down.  Governors have also received more attention from Donald Trump than they otherwise would.

   New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has received both praise and criticism from the president.  Cuomo has regularly been in touch with Trump but at time criticized the federal government's help to his state.  Illinois' governor, J B Pritzker, and Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, have gotten into public spats with Trump on Twitter.

   At the same time, Republican and Democratic governors are learning how to shape their public comments under the intense scrutiny of a TV-obsessed president eager to return praise and respond to criticism with more criticism.  It is a tough tightrope to walk and in the face of dealing with a pandemic comes with life-or-death high stakes.

   California's governor, Gavin Newsom, usually an eager critic of the president, has repeatedly praised the Trump administration for how it has responded to the crisis.  Newsom has praised Trump for the president's "focus on treatments."

   Conversely, Pritzker found himself in a Twitter feud with the president where, at one point, the top Illinois Democrat called Trump a carnival barker.  Trump has also fumed at Washington's governor, Jay Inslee, calling him a "snake."

   "It's a two-way street," Trump said of dealing with the governors during a Fox News town hall.  "They have to treat us well."

   There's been an increased level of coordination and note trading between governors as well.  Usually, each governor is mostly siloed off from even their closest neighbors.  But conference calls with the White House or one-on-one calls and joint statements between governors have become more regular.   ......"

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And, finally, from The Vox - the first two sentences from an article posted on 25 March at 2 pm, written by Aaron Rupar:

   "President Donald Trump says he's willing to help blue-state governors who are struggling to contain coronavirus outbreaks - but only if they're willing to stop criticizing him in exchange.

   "It's a two-way street," Trump told Fox News on Tuesday.  "They have to treat us well, also.  They can't say, 'Oh, gee, we should get this, we should get that.'"  ........"