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> I think the problem of ventilator shortages has nothing todo with technology isn't the problem economy of scale? at peak, the US needs 25k-30k ventilators fo
by MuffinFlavored 7y ago
> I think the problem of ventilator shortages has nothing todo with technology
isn't the problem economy of scale? at peak, the US needs 25k-30k ventilators for a few days, and then 90 days later we don't need anywhere near that number. where do we store them? how do we justify the expense? etc.
especially if 70-80% of people who still get a ventilator die [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22730622 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22730622
- TeMPOraL 7y ago> where do we store them? how do we justify the expense? You either store a large surplus of them in warehouses, or ensure you can rapidly manufacture them even if the world around you goes to hell. That should be the responsibility of governments, and it's one of the main reasons to even have one - a government doesn't have to justify everything in terms of costs, it can evaluate some non-profit metrics like, I don't know, saving lives in case of emergency. Alas, something happened after the Cold War, all western nations went collectively insane, and got rid of most emergency surpluses and any kind of buffer in the system.
- justin66 7y ago> at peak, the US needs 25k-30k ventilators for a few days, and then 90 days later we don't need anywhere near that number. Those numbers are way off. NYC alone needs 30k machines.