President Donald Trump has blamed the state of New York for its ventilator shortage. The President gave a live interview on Fox News on Monday claiming the state was misusing the lifesaving machines.
“I think New York should be fine, based on the numbers that we see,” Trump told the network’s morning show.
“They should have more than enough,” he said on Fox & Friends.Â
“I’m hearing stories that they’re not used, or not used right, but when we find anywhere from two to four thousand that have been sent and aren’t used, you know we’ve done a job,” he said.
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"I think NY should be fine, based on the numbers that we see. They should have more than enough [ventilators]. I mean, I'm hearing stories that they're not used, or not used right…the states should be getting it. We should be a backup"- Trump blames NY for a ventilator shortage pic.twitter.com/qCpU5YUJ6A
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 30, 2020
Trump was repeating a claim he made on Sunday. Speaking to the press, the President blamed hospitals for a shortage of masks and ventilators.
“Now we’re still getting more ventilators,” he said. “After this is over, they’ll be selling ventilators for a dollar a piece. We’ve have a lot of them. But you know, they have to build them because for the most part, the whole world is short on ventilators.”
Trump added that other countries were also in need of ventilators.
“We’re making a lot of ventilators now and eventually they’ll be a dime a dozen,” Trump said.
“New York had chance to get 16,000 ventilators a few years ago and they turned it down. They should be getting it. The states should be getting it and we should be a backup.”
“And we’ve become not a backup – the opposite,” the President said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said his state will need 30 to 40 thousand ventilators and called on the federal government to help supply them.
Dr. Anthony Fauci agreed with Cuomo that the state would need around 30 thousand ventilators but Trump has repeatedly criticized Cuomo’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
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Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media
