As the number of cases from the coronavirus continue to climb, U.S. hospitals and government officials are preparing for the possibility of a potential shortage of ventilators, a machine that has proven effective in helping the most severely ill patients breathe.

The fear of a ventilator shortage grew as hospital officials nationwide have been taking major steps to expand capacities, building tents and outfitting unused spaces to house patients.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health’s infectious diseases chief, recently said that if the U.S. were to reach the level of Italy – which has had the second-highest number of cases outside China – an overwhelming influx of patients could lead to a lack of supplies, including ventilators.

“That’s when you’re going to have to make some very tough decisions,” he said.

On Friday, when asked about the possibility of a ventilator shortage, President Trump said his administration had “ordered a large number of respirators just in case.”

“We hope we don’t them but we’ve ordered a large number,” he said.

Dr. Eric Toner with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told NPR on Saturday that hospitals needing more ventilators beyond their usual supply would need to rent them if there were to be a surge of patients with serious pneumonia from COVID-19.

Companies manufacturing ventilators have indicated they’re ramping up efforts to keep up with demand, both in the United States and abroad.

General Electric told ABC News the company was “taking steps to maximize our manufacturing capability and output while ensuring our plants can continue safe operations.”

An official with ResMed, a San Diego-based firm, said the company was “confident it can meet current global demands.”

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According to a recent study from the Society of Critical Care Medicine, some 8,900 ventilators have been stockpiled for national deployment in case of emergencies. The study indicated that, with the national stockpile, hospitals have had roughly 200,000 devices available, though the numbers of staffers able to operate and monitor them remained low.

Toner said a patient may have to be transferred if one hospital wasn’t at capacity.

Elsewhere, hospitals have been stepping up communication with each other as they prepare dfor the worst. In Washington state, which has been hit hardest by the outbreak in the U.S., EvergreenHealth shared a 42-page report online titled: “Lessons for Hospitals.”

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“In multiple ways, people are linking with each other to say, ‘I’m not going to do this in isolation; tell me how you’re doing this, let me tell you how I’m doing this and let’s share lessons with each other,’” Dr. Craig Coopersmith of the Emory University School of Medicine said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.