Birx said: “Know where every hospital is — public, private. Know where every one of your surgical centers are. That’s where your anesthesia ventilators are. Know how to change those anesthesia ventilators up to supportive ventilators to take care of people. Know where every piece of equipment is in the state. Know how to move that around the state based on need.“

Birx also told Todd it was a matter of states and federal government coming together and doing their jobs.

“The federal government right now is working very hard on looking at where all the ventilators are and where production can be,” she said. “But we need states at the same time to look where all of their ventilators are, including outpatient surgical center, which is a really important place to be looking because you get staff plus ventilator. ... All of that can come into the hospitals to care for patients. So both of those pieces need to come together: the government looking to increase procurements and states looking for every single option that they have.“

Various governors have complained that the Trump administration’s scattershot response has left them competing against each other — and sometimes the federal government itself — for vital equipment. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on “Meet the Press” referred to it as “a frustration point that is not unique to Michigan.”