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  1. patience_limited
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    I'd give the topic post an "Exemplary" if I could. There's so much BS in the U.S. news right now claiming an ability to massively ramp up ventilator production. And we could, given six months or...

    I'd give the topic post an "Exemplary" if I could. There's so much BS in the U.S. news right now claiming an ability to massively ramp up ventilator production. And we could, given six months or more of lead time.

    As the article indicates, the supply chain is so distributed (and mainly concentrated in China), it's nearly impossible to coordinate production of all the necessary components and materials quickly.

    The knowledge to properly operate ventilators is even more scarce. Ventilation in intensive care management is not something for which you can quickly write an expert system or manual to coach non-specialist clinicians.

    ICU personnel demands for patients on ventilation are very high as well - even spread thinly, it takes one nurse for every five patients, and several different specialist physician interventions for each. Even with all this care, reported case fatality rates for COVID-19 patients on ventilators are around 40%.

    In sum, we need more ventilators, but most importantly, we need to prevent infections.