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President Trump announces partnership to make 60,000 ventilators available to COVID-19 patients

Published  April 14, 2020 7:28pm EDT
Associated Press

President Donald Trump has announced a new public-private partnership aimed at making as many as 60,000 ventilators available to patients in coronavirus hot spots.

Trump says the partnership will allow hospitals to lend unused ventilators to other hospitals with greater need. He says that more than 20 of the nation’s largest health systems have pledged to lend more than 4,000 ventilators where needed.

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Trump was joined by executives from several health systems around the country to tout the new program during a press briefing at the White House.

Governors have expressed concerns about the availability of ventilators as their states experienced a surge in critically ill patients. Trump says some governors requested far more than what they ultimately needed. He also asserts that the federal government has smartly rationed ventilators and that there are currently about 10,000 ventilators in a federal stockpile should they be needed.

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As of April 14, more than 3 million individuals have been tested for the novel coronavirus in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Over 100,000 people have been hospitalized in the U.S. due to COVID-19.