US Coronavirus Outbreak: Hospitals May Run Short On Life-saving Ventilators

By Staff, Business Insider

With the number of US coronavirus cases topping 1800, more than half of US states have declared emergency as the healthcare system prepares for an onslaught of patients.

According to reasearches, US hospitals may not be prepared for an influx of severely ill coronavirus patients. Respiratory failure can be a severe side effect of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. When people go into respiratory failure, and either can't breathe or have trouble breathing, they need a ventilator.

If the coronavirus pandemic worsens, these life-saving machines, which move breathable air into and out of a patient's lungs, could be in short supply.

Back to a February report from the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins revealed the US has about 160,000 ventilators ready for use in hospitals, with another 8,900 held in a national reserve. The report doesn't say how many are typically in use, but notes that demand could increase by at least 25% during an influenza pandemic.

"The need for ventilation services during a severe pandemic could quickly overwhelm these day-today operational capabilities," the report adds.

About 1 million Americans might need a ventilator throughout the course of the outbreak, according to projections from Dr. James Lawler, an infectious diseases specialist and public health expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.