Los Angeles, C.A. – On Saturday evening, California Governor Gavin Newsom said that the state had received 170 ventilators from the US Government’s national stockpile. In his statements, he referenced that the ventilators were broken. He took to a news conference to say that rather than complain, they put the ventilators on a truck and took them to be repaired. Here’s his comments from his news conference to view.
LA received 170 broken ventilators from the national stockpile. Rather than complaining, we put them on a truck, drove them up overnight, and had @Bloom_Energy get to work fixing them.
Monday they‘ll back in LA–fixed.
That’s the spirit of CA. pic.twitter.com/y8yzsiC3Ny
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 28, 2020
There’s just one problem, he took to a news conference and made a big deal about it. He was complaining, while he said he wasn’t. It all came as part of a publicity stunt for the California Governor, who was showing how Bloom Energy has transitioned their operations to refurbishing ventilators. I will commend the company, this is the kind of thing that we should expect from Americans. Maybe GM can take note of what Bloom Energy has done.
Ventilators have taken the spotlight in recent weeks. Not everyone who contracts COVID-19 will require a ventilator, but many of the worst cases will. The American Hospital Association predicts that nearly 1 million Americans could need a ventilator. In 2006, it was estimated that the US had approximately 100,000 ventilators. But now, many states are wanting to buy massive amounts of ventilators. Thousands of them in fact. New York has requested 30,000 of them alone.
Even with all the concerns about ventilator and hospital bed shortages, many officials continue to downplay the potential risk. Some have pulled information to highlight how the United States now has more recoveries than deaths. Official numbers may not be entirely accurate, however. Many people have not been tested and it’s unknown how many of the 136,000+ cases of COVID-19 need a ventilator.
Dr. Deborah Birx’s comments casting doubt on talk of ventilator and hospital-bed shortages, and praising President Trump’s attention to detail in lavish terms, have raised questions about her independence as coronavirus cases have soared in the U.S. https://t.co/xED7bcAoeb
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) March 29, 2020
One official that has continued to be outspoken on COVID-19 is Dr. Anthony Fauci. In comments on CNN, he said that the US deaths to COVID-19 could potentially be between 100 and 200,000, but urged against making projections. You can see the video of his comments below.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says there could potentially be between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths related to the coronavirus and millions of cases. “I just don’t think that we really need to make a projection when it’s such a moving target, that you could so easily be wrong,” he adds. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/F2MOHY3xl4
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) March 29, 2020
If these statements are correct, this would be much worse than the seasonal flu that affects over 30 million American’s annually. According to CDC estimates, there were between 24,000 and 62,000 deaths from the seasonal flu. This would mean that COVID-19 is not as bad as the 1918 flu pandemic, however. Dr. Deborah Birx says that no community will be unaffected by the virus. This is already the case as Americans everywhere are struggling with stay orders and issues with finding basic necessities at stores.
While any sickness and associated deaths are difficult, there is an encouraging sign for Americans. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. After being told for months that a million Americans could die, we are now seeing the official expectations drop. We are reading reports of potential medications that are helping. From the Trump touted drugs to other anti-virals, we are learning more each day about the virus and how we can combat it. Other exciting news is that testing measures are becoming quicker and more readily available.
The curve continues to go up for the United States, but there are hopes that we are nearing the top. Social distancing measures and stay orders have been in place in many areas for about 1 week now. According to experts, these could take up to 2 weeks to show a difference. If the curve levels, the US could very well be on a path to recovery. If not, we may be dealing with the coronavirus for many weeks to come.
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