President Donald Trump doesn’t believe that New York needs 30,000 ventilators, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to escalate in the state that has become the epicenter of the crisis in the United States.
In fact, once again, according to Politico, while speaking to Fox News‘ Sean Hannity, the president downplayed the impact of the virus, even as the United States surpassed China in the number of confirmed cases.
“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump told Hannity. “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You go into major hospitals sometimes, and they’ll have two ventilators. And now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’ ”
White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx noted on Thursday that she was told that the state had enough ventilators to support its needs, although she acknowledged that there may be shortages in areas such as New York City.
“There is still significant—over a thousand or two thousand— ventilators that have not been utilized yet,” Birx said.
However, the severity of the cases in New York, particularly New York City is real. Elmhurst Hospital in Queens recently saw at least 13 patients die in a 24-hour span as a result of the virus.
Birx herself has directed all persons leaving the state to self-quarantine for 14 days due to the rate of exposure.
As the crisis continues and grows, Cuomo has grown frustrated, insisting that the state needs an additional 30,000 ventilators in order to adequately respond to the crisis, which is predicted to peak in the state in about two weeks, as Politico notes.
“The president said it’s a war. . .then act like it,” said Cuomo earlier this week during a morning news conference at the Javits Center in Manhattan. “They’re doing the supplies? Here’s my question: Where are they?”
“You pick the 26 thousand people who are going to die,” he added.