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Hospitals desperately seeking ventilators in the face of COVID-19 have a friend in Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The electric car maker has announced that the company will be donating hundreds of FDA-approved ventilators to hospitals, starting with New York, shipping them free of charge.
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New York has seen by far the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States.
The latest numbers show New York with 67,131 cases, according to the CDC . To handle the expected surge at hospitals, Governor Andrew Cuomo put out a plea, saying New York City alone would need 30,000 ventilators, a number President Trump called into question during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.
However, as Governor Cuomo made clear, there’s a good reason why the city will need so many.
“Why ventilators? Because this is a respiratory illness,” he said, according to CBS News . “People need ventilators who come in for acute care. And the people are on ventilators much longer then most patients are on ventilators. Most people are on a ventilator for two, three, four days. These COVID patients can come and need a ventilator for up to 20 days. You see why that need for ventilators is so important. And again all of this is to make sure we’re ready for that apex when the entire system is stressed and under pressure.”
And so Elon Musk has decided to do his part, pitching in with hundreds of ventilators.
Replying to another Twitter user’s question about ventilator production, Musk indicated that Tesla had acquired the FDA-approved ventilators and was in the process of sending them out.
“Working on that with Medtronic,” he tweeted . “Given NY pressing needs, we’re delivering Resmed, Philips & Medtronic ventilators to NY hospitals starting tonight.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio thanked Musk on Twitter for the donation.
“I spoke with @elonmusk late last night,” he tweeted . “He’s donating hundreds of ventilators to New York City and State, including our public hospitals. We’re deeply grateful. We need every ventilator we can get our hands on these next few weeks to save lives.”
“You’re most welcome. Credit to the Tesla team. Will do our best to help in any way,” Musk replied . “Biggest value Tesla is providing is precise delivery of ventilators exactly to the ICU where & when they’re needed. There are many ventilators in warehouses, but stuck in logistics/routing/paperwork issues,” he added .
And it’s not just New York that Tesla is looking to help.
As Musk tweeted, the company is only asking that the ventilators not end up in a warehouse, but be put into use immediately.
“We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free,” he tweeted . “Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse. Please me or @Tesla know.”
Musk has also indicated that Tesla will be producing ventilators as well as donating the ones they’ve acquired.
In concert with Medtronic, Tesla is ramping up to produce the ventilators at their Fremont Gigafactory, and Musk added that the company will open its Buffalo facility to ventilator production as well.
“Making good progress. We will do whatever is needed to help in these difficult times,” he tweeted . “Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible. We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York,” he added .
h/t: CBS News , Tech Crunch
