President Donald Trump announced during Monday’s coronavirus task force briefing that Ford and General Electric will produce 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 30: U.S. President Donald Trump takes a new COVID-19 test kit developed by Abbott Labs out of its box during the daily coronavirus briefing at the Rose Garden of the White House on March 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. The United States has updated its guidelines to U.S. citizens to maintain current social distancing practices through the end of April after the number of reported coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths doubled to over 2,000 nationwide within two days. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“We have 9 other companies doing ventilators,” the president stated. “As we outpace what we need, we’re going to be sending them to Italy, we’re going to be sending them to France, we’re going to be sending them to Spain where they have tremendous problems.” (RELATED: Ford, GE And 3M Pooling Resources To Make Ventilators, Respirators And Face Shields Amid Coronavirus Pandemic)
“The fact that we’re doing so many so quickly is a tribute to our great companies,” the president continued
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Ventilators have been one of the pieces of medical equipment most often requested of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by state governors. The president claimed Monday that FEMA is shipping ventilators to several new states, including Louisiana, Connecticut, Michigan, and Illinois.
Trump, in his opening remarks, noted that the models the task force based its extended social distancing guidelines on suggest that, if strictly adhered to, the move could save more than 1,000,000 lives.
At Sunday’s briefing, he lauded Abbott Labs, which produced a new coronavirus test just approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is expected to return results in 5 minutes.