California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that the federal government had sent the state “170 broken ventilators” amid national concerns about a shortage of the life-saving machines, which can be key to treating the respiratory distress caused by COVID-19.
Newsom said at a press conference that “170 ventilators that came from the national stockpile directly” to Los Angeles county were “not working.” But, he added, “rather than pointing fingers,” authorities in California transported the ventilators to a facility to get them fixed by San Jose-based Bloom Energy.
Gavin Newsom✔@GavinNewsom
LA received 170 broken ventilators from the national stockpile. Rather than complaining, we put them on a truck, drove them up overnight, and had @Bloom_Energy get to work fixing them.
Monday they‘ll back in LA–fixed.
That’s the spirit of CA.
Newsom said the broken ventilators arrived at the facility on Saturday morning and he expects the ventilators will be functioning and back in Los Angeles on Monday. “That’s the spirit of California,” Newsom said. Continue reading.