Ventilators have become synonymous with the current COVID-19 outbreak. As hospital demand skyrockets 11-fold due to the exponential increase in COVID-19 patients, supply chain and manufacturers have been stretched beyond capacity. Efforts to project ventilator demand in the U.S. range from 45,000 units to 75,000 units, with 880,000 units projected demand worldwide.
The U.S. recently announced orders for 137,431 new ventilators, worth $2.5 billion, delivered by the end of 2020. In order to meet this demand, a growing list of traditional and non-traditional medtech companies, as well as universities, investors, and entrepreneurs have pledged time and resources to the effort. Tesla is designing ventilators from Model 3 parts along with a partnership with Medtronic. General Motors plans to begin producing 10,000 ventilators per month by mid-April, and Ford hopes to produce 50,000 of the devices in the next 100 days.