While Trump has downplayed the ventilator shortage, local leaders and medical professionals across the country continue to sound the alarm on the growing crisis that has forced many hospitals to make tough decisions on who to keep alive.

85 percent of mayors in cities across the country say they do not have enough ventilators.

Washington Post: “Nearly 90 percent of U.S. mayors who responded to a national survey on coronavirus preparedness said they lack sufficient tests kits, face masks and other protective equipment for their emergency responders and medical workers, while 85 percent said they do not have enough ventilators for their hospitals — critical shortages that could lead cities and towns to be quickly overwhelmed should the virus spread through their communities.”

Medical professionals across the country say they don’t have enough ventilators.

“We don’t have the tools that we need.” – New York emergency room doctor

“Unless people die, I suspect we’ll be back to needing to beg for ventilators again in another day or two.” – New York emergency room doctor

“You have an 80-year-old and a 20-year-old and both need a vent and you only have one. What do you do?” – California emergency medicine doctor

Governors across the country say they don’t have enough ventilators and are pleading with Trump for help. 

Governor Cuomo: “‘The number of ventilators we need is so astronomical,’ Cuomo warned, pegging the ‘apex number’ of ventilators that could be required in New York at 40,000.”

Governor Bel Edwards: “‘We would really like some help, because, otherwise, you’re left to just beg, borrow and steal from wherever you can get these things,’ Edwards, the Louisiana governor, said on PBS Wednesday night. He said the state has requested 5,000 ventilators from the federal stockpile but has not heard back yet on the request.  ‘And so we are asking the federal government to have a bigger role in this,” he added. “Because I don’t know that it gets sorted out in the short term any other way.’”

Governor Whitmer: “‘I’ve asked repeatedly and respectfully for help,’ Whitmer tweeted in response to the President telling Sean Hannity he was having problems with her. ‘We need it. No more political attacks, just PPEs, ventilators, N95 masks, test kits.’”

Governor Inslee: “We need a national mobilization of the industrial base in this country. That’s how we won WWII.  To get that, we need a president to lead. Washingtonians’ lives depend on it.”

Governor Hogan: “Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday that his state has not received enough ventilators or coronavirus test kits from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.”

Governor Polis: “The state’s supply of ventilators is still short, Polis said, and the latest delivery from the strategic national stockpile had none. He called on manufacturers and others in the supply chain to produce and acquire ventilators to help Colorado hospitals.”

Governor Prtizker: “Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that the state of Illinois has been ‘competing’ with other states, the federal government and foreign countries in its bids to purchase medical equipment – a process he called ‘just wrong’ as the coronavirus crisis rages on.”

States across the country are being forced to make tough decisions about who gets treatment in the face of severe ventilator shortages.

New York — New York Times: “A New York hospital system has begun treating two patients instead of one on some ventilators, a desperate measure that could help alleviate a shortage of the critical breathing machines and help hospitals around the country respond to the surge of coronavirus patients expected in the coming weeks.”

New Jersey — Politico: “New Jersey officials are beginning to discuss the ‘haunting’ possibility that hospitals may soon have to decide which patients critically ill with coronavirus get ventilators and which do not.”

Michigan — Michigan Advance: “Henry Ford Hospital letter leaks on who gets treatment if there’s a ventilator shortage”

Louisiana — Times-Picayune: “Intensive care beds and ventilators are among the most critical needs for the patients most seriously stricken with the coronavirus, and state data show that Louisiana, and New Orleans in particular, may have nowhere near as many as needed to keep pace with the infection’s spread.”

Pennsylvania — York Daily Record: “Pennsylvania is struggling to find more beds, ventilators and protective supplies in part because several states, including the two biggest states in the country, are in desperate need of the same items and in part because it’s hard to build new hospitals and find more beds in a matter of weeks. There is also a limited number of trained doctors and nurses.”

South Carolina — The State: “With the number of COVID-19 coronavirus cases in South Carolina projected to reach 8,000 by May, and the state’s hospitals preparing for a massive surge in patients, ventilators have become precious resources.”