Feds have 10,469 ventilators ready to send to states, FEMA says

1. Acknowledging a scarcity, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said states and tribal governments will have to prove an immediate need defined as requirements necessary to sustain life within a 72-hour window, FEMA said and will have to divulge key details about their equipment stockpiles and hospital beds.
2. Parekh, who is now chief medical advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said the federal government is likely to deploy some of its stockpile to hotspots while holding back other ventilators for the next wave of cases in other locations.
3. But this is not a normal time, so we've been working with FEMA and the federal government to come up with an allocation system that makes sense given the scale of the public health crisis we are facing, said Scott Whitaker, president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association.
4. Anand Parekh, a former deputy assistant secretary at the Health Department, said it's good to know that number, but we still don't know the gap analysis how many ventilators are held in each state, and how many will be needed.
5. Auto manufacturers said they were already rushing to convert product lines to produce ventilators even before President Trump last week invoked the Defense Production Act to force General Motors to do so.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/1/feds-have-10469-total-ventilators-available/