Wow, some of the comments/downvotes here are astounding, especially for a group of people priding themselves on problem solving and FOSS. Obviously, a plywood

Wow, some of the comments/downvotes here are astounding, especially for a group of people priding themselves on problem solving and FOSS. Obviously, a plywood vent isn't hygenic. But R&D isn't a zero to one jump, you gotta start somewhere. Often it's that first spark of "wait this is something that needn't be only the domain of hospital gear companies" to inspire others to work on the problem. Sure, a vent alone is probably not gonna improve your chance of living without the right care, but if there was a set of condensed instructions and WHO essential meds, yeah, maybe you have a shot. This is also more about developing countries / rolling pandemics / CME-Carrington event than cov19 alone. Tell me, when was the last time you saw a panic in a trace/log to the effect of, "This should never occur." ? No one wants to be in the situation to need backups. This is part of a backup plan. The defeatism in this thread already makes me want to go and improve the design. For one, you can get pneumatic valves which take the place of 2 or maybe even 3 of the valves on the machine.