The US faces a ventilator shortage as Covid-19 reduces patients’ ability to breathe. Demand projections indicate tens of thousands of ventilators may be needed in the coming weeks, and some regions could run out quickly. Traditional manufacturers produce only a few thousand machines per year, leaving supply overwhelmed. Companies with disrupted operations redirected engineering capacity toward ventilator production. Virgin Orbit engineer Kevin Zagorski shifted from experimenting with touchless door-opening attachments to working with doctors to design a low-cost, scalable ventilator. A prototype mechanized bag valve mask was produced within days, and the team moved through multiple generations with plans for mass production pending regulatory approval.
"By mid-week, he and about a dozen fellow engineers had produced a prototype of a mechanized bag valve mask, also called an Ambu bag, the handheld device EMTs use to pump air into a patient's lungs. Now they're on their third generation, which they think they can start mass producing in coming days, pending regulatory approval."
"Estimates range, but the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects the US could need roughly 55,000 ventilators in mid-April, assuming that social distancing measures stay in place through May. On Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that New York could run out of the devices in six days."
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