Lousiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that New Orleans has one week left before it runs out of ventilators, given the current trajectory of coronavirus cases in his state.
Edwards, a Democrat, explained that Louisiana has been inventorying its medical supplies to see what it has in supply. He told Meet the Press on Sunday that the New Orleans area has until April 4 before it could run out of ventilators needed to keep people alive in the late stages of the COVID-19 virus.
“While the hot spot is down around New Orleans, it is statewide. We know that if we don’t flatten the curve, we’re on a trajectory currently to exceed our capacity in the New Orleans area for ventilators by about April the fourth and all beds available in hospitals by about April the 10th,” Edwards said.
He added, “We’re doing everything we can to search capacity. It is very difficult. We did get some PPE [personal protective equipment] yesterday like Governor Whitmer said. We’ve already allocated about 100,000 masks just yesterday to the hospitals. Ventilators are the short term, really big, pressing issue that we’re trying to solve.”
Edwards noted that every state is looking for more ventilators, so it is difficult to acquire the machines given the competition for the product. He reiterated during an appearance on This Week the same morning that his state is on a “trajectory to overwhelm our capacity to deliver healthcare by the end of the first week in April.”
President Trump announced that General Motors would be producing ventilators to try and bolster the nation’s supply. He invoked the Defense Production Act to mandate that the company prioritize ventilator production.
As of Sunday morning, Louisiana had nearly 2,500 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 137 deaths.
