The federal government is using emergency laws to buy more bedside breathing ventilators to treat the rapidly rising inflow of victims from China’s Wuhan virus.

“We are ordering thousands and thousands of ventilators,” President Donald Trump said March 18, adding, “we are ordering a lot more.”

The announcement came as hospitals scour their supply chains for the ventilators and tubing equipment needed to keep ailing victims alive until their lungs recover from the coronavirus. State officials are also trying to get more equipment. For example, Florida officials reportedly say they want 5,000 additional ventilators to treat their population of retirees.

Medical professionals are also testing to see how they can use existing ventilators to save up to four similar patients at the same time.

The nurse in the video is careful to stress:

– sharing a ventilator is an "off-label" (read: non-FDA approved) use with nontrivial risks to patients

– it should only be done in the most dire situations

– patients of similar body mass and respiratory health need to be paired-up — Samuel Hammond ἱ🏛 (@hamandcheese) March 18, 2020

Trump and his deputies were not asked how many ventilators would soon be delivered.

However, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said his agency is transferring ventilators to the hospitals. “We are prepared to distribute up to 3,000 ventilates, as needed,” he said. The Pentagon is keeping some ventilators for use by soldiers and family members who fall ill.

Trump was asked why officials had not already launched plans to produce more of the life-saving ventilators.

Trump dodged the question, saying, “Hospitals are supposed to have ventilators too, and we have thousands of ventilators. It sounds like a lot, but this is a very unforeseen thing. Nobody ever thought of these [demand] numbers. Nobody ever saw numbers like this, even with regard to testing.”

Trump noted there may be a very high demand for ventilators as the epidemic spreads across the country:

It depends on how it goes. Worst case, absolutely [there will be a high demand]. Best case, not at all. So we’re going to have to see where it goes. But we are ordering thousands and thousands of ventilators.

Vice President Mike Pence offered reassurances, but he did not reveal the expected production numbers:

We have a specific number of ventilators in the stockpile. It is in excess of 10,000, and you just heard the announcement from the Department of Defense that they will be adding several more thousand to that. But the President, even this morning and yesterday, after speaking with the largest companies in the supply chain in this country, we’re hearing a tremendous spirit among industry leaders who are ready to step in and add to that volume [of ventilators]. The stockpiles don’t count all of the ventilators that exist today in the marketplace and in healthcare facilities around the country. But the President has given us a directive to make sure that our stockpile — but just as importantly, [by] working with industry leaders — that we’re securing the increase in ventilators, the increase in masks, gloves, eye protectors, care garments, that are all necessary … We’re confident we’ll be able to accomplish that with the incredible cooperation of the supply chain that exists in America today.

The nation only has 170,000 ventilators, according to a February inventory by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Federal advisors project a need for up to 500,000 ventilators to save Americans from China's coronavirus. That seems like a life & cost-saving option.

U.S. manufacturers are trying to accelerate parts delivery. But there is no sign of federal $$ yet. https://t.co/yEtV9RW900 — Neil Munro (@NeilMunroDC) March 16, 2020

Nursing homes are especially vulnerable to the threat. For example, the China virus killed more than 30 elderly at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington state, partly because of inadequate preparedness and untrained staff. AP reported March 18:

Several family members and friends who visited Life Care before the outbreak told The Associated Press that they didn’t notice any unusual precautions, and none said they were asked about their health or if they had visited China or any other countries struck by the virus. They said visitors came in as they always did, sometimes without signing in. Staffers had only recently begun wearing face masks. And organized events went on as planned, including a Feb. 26 Mardi Gras party, when residents and visitors packed into a common room, passed plates of sausage, rice and king cake, and sang as a band played “When the Saints Go Marching In.” “We were all eating, drinking, singing and clapping to the music,” Pat McCauley, who was there visiting a friend, told the AP. “In hindsight, it was a real germ-fest.” About 57% of the patients at the nursing home were hospitalized after getting infected. Of those, more than 1 in 4 died.