If half of Californians fall sick with COVID-19 and 2% need ventilators, the state would need 390,000. Even if those cases were spread out over the next year, the state could still require 20,000 ventilators at once.
There are only 9,500. latimes.com/science/story/…
There are only 9,500. latimes.com/science/story/…
Across the U.S., there could be as many as 31 patients requiring ventilation for every machine available, according to an article published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The shortage could be just as severe in California.
In a scientific article published this week, a trio of Harvard Medical School experts called decisions about who gets ventilators “the toughest triage.”
“Of all the medical care that will have to be rationed, the most problematic will be mechanical ventilation.”
“Of all the medical care that will have to be rationed, the most problematic will be mechanical ventilation.”
In Los Angeles County, there are 833 ventilators across the county’s 70 public and private hospitals. The county department that runs the four local public hospitals is working to acquire an additional 313.
One California doctor said if there is a ventilator shortage, he plans to ask patients whether they want to be put on one. latimes.com/science/story/… 
