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The US could be hurtling toward a dangerous shortage of mechanical ventilators and qualified health workers as hospitals brace for a torrent of new coronavirus patients.

There are only about 200,000 of the machines across the country, with the anticipation that 960,000 COVID-19 patients could need them at the same time, according to projections from the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

“The real issue is how to rapidly increase ventilator production when your need exceeds the supply,” Dr. Lewis Kaplan, president of the critical care society, said Tuesday. “For that I don’t have a very good answer.”

Manufacturers are increasing production as hospitals across the country are racing to rent more ventilators from medical-equipment suppliers — but it’s unclear if the supply will meet the demand, according to Kaplan.

“If everyone in the country wants to order some, that will get rapidly depleted in a heartbeat,” he said.

The machines are critical for patients suffering severe cases of the coronavirus. The disease can damage lung tissue and hamper the delivery of oxygen to the blood, with the potential for pneumonia and the deadly respiratory distress syndrome to develop.

But even with a sudden increase in machines, there are only enough trained nurses and doctors in the US for about 135,000 patients to be put on ventilators at any one time, according to the organization.

President Donald Trump angered governors, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, when he told the state executives to find new ventilators themselves during a Monday conference call.

“Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves,” Trump said on the call, a recording of which was obtained by the New York Times. “We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.”

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper followed up saying the Pentagon would provide 2,000 specialized ventilators to federal health authorities — but the machines are designed for troops and civilians would have to be trained to use them.

Most coronavirus patients will only develop a mild cough and fever and recover within weeks, but some patients who develop severe respiratory issues could be dependent on ventilators for weeks.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top doctor in the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, said the supply of ventilators would depend on how well the country can contain the disease.

But experts doubted there would be enough machines if serious cases continued to rise.

“In a worst-case scenario it would be very difficult to have a sufficient number,” Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Obama administration, told the New York Times.

With Post Wires