New York suggested its coronavirus patients may have to share ventilators, but a lung doctor says that's a 'desperate' and risky strategy

Reuters/Lindsey Wasson

• Ventilators are a critical care tool for patients with severe cases of COVID-19, who may have trouble breathing on their own.
• Ventilators are in such short supply in New York that the governor has proposed using "one ventilator for two patients."
• Dr. Nicholas Hill, the chief of pulmonary and critical care at Tufts University School of Medicine, called it a "desperate, desperate measure," and said focusing on manufacturing and distributing more ventilators is a better bet for saving more lives. 
• It's risky for patients to share breathing devices since people need to be of similar lung capacity and general size in order for the machines to treat them both well at the same time.
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New York doesn't have enough breathing machines. 

"We've procured about 7,000 ventilators," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday. "We need at a minimum, an additional 30,000 ventilators." 

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See Also:

• Mayor Bill de Blasio: New York City will release select inmates who are over 70 and have certain pre-existing conditions
• People are donating their face masks in droves to help protect frontline hospital workers as the coronavirus overloads US hospitals
• One chart shows 10 countries' current coronavirus death rates, based on known cases and deaths. Italy's is highest: nearly 10%.

SEE ALSO: A mix-and-match coronavirus-testing strategy has allowed New York to screen 32,000 people — far more than any other state

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