Trump Will Send 400 Ventilators To NYC, Which Needs 15K: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — President Donald Trump is sending New York City 400 ventilators, a fraction of the 15,000 Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week were desperately needed.

De Blasio said Monday Trump and Vice President Mike Pence would immediately send the machines, which help seriously ill COVID-19 to breathe, but did not say when they were scheduled to arrive.

"That's going to make a huge difference," de Blasio said. "Every shipment means life or death for New Yorkers."

To keep up to date with coronavirus developments in NYC, sign up for Patch's news alerts and newsletter.

The 4,00 represent less than 3 percent of the 15,000 ventilators New York City it needs to get through April and May.

It's 2 percent of the 20,000 Pence said last week the federal government has in reserve.

Ninety-nine New York City dwellers have died and 12,339 tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday, with 3,494 confirmed in Brooklyn, 3,621 cases in Queens 2,572 in Manhattan, 1,829 in the Bronx, and 817 in Staten Island, officials said.

There were at least 1,800 people hospitalized for COVID-19 with about 450 in intensive care units as of 6 p.m. Sunday, according to a Mayor's office spokesperson.

Sixty percent of the state's cases and 30 percent of the U.S. cases are in New York City, de Blasio said.

New York lawmakers have been pleading with the president for days to send the life-saving machinery to the city, which is being called the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak.

When Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced construction will begin this week to turn the Javits Center into a 1,000-bed emergency hospital, he said increasing the state's hospital capacity was not as important as getting 30,000 ventilators for the state.

"We just cannot get them," Cuomo said. "That's where we're going to need the federal government to step in and step up."

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer phoned the president Friday and their conversation ended with the president shouting at someone in his office to get ventilators to the places that need them.

At a press conference hours later, Trump and Pence assured reporters several U.S. companies had already been identified to produce ventilators and the federal government had 20,000 ventilators on standby.

New York's shortage of medical supplies, specifically ventilators, spurred Cuomo Friday to issue a statewide stay-at-home order that went into effect Sunday.

Coronavirus In NYC: What's Happened And What You Need To Know