Coronavirus Hotspots Across US Get Ventilators From Federal Government

The states that are hit hardest by the coronavirus will receive several hundred ventilators from the Federal government, President Trump announced Sunday.

The distribution of ventilators come at a time when hotspots of the novel coronavirus have faced shortage of the critically needed machines. The governors of these states had been hounding the Trump Administration for weeks to aid them in overcoming the shortage of ventilators and other equipment as the number of cases continue to skyrocket in the nation.

During a White House briefing on Sunday, President Trump said that an additional 500 ventilators had been delivered to New Jersey, one of the hardest-hit states by the coronavirus pandemic, by the Federal government in the past 24 hours. Similarly, 200 ventilators have been sent to Louisiana, 300 to Michigan, 600 to Illinois and 100 to Massachusetts, The Hill reported.

Trump, who had otherwise bashed the governors repeatedly for complaining, had words of praise for them, as he made the announcement of the ventilators. He praised Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) for sending back 400 ventilators to the government so that it can be redirected to states that needed them more.

He also struck a more optimistic tone regarding the nation’s progress tackling the coronavirus pandemic, after top health officials had claimed that the coming week will bring tough times with it.

"We see light at the end of the tunnel. Things are happening," Trump said during the briefing. "We’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. And hopefully, in the not too distant future, we’ll be very proud of the job we all did. You can never be happy when so many people are dying, but we’re going to be very proud of the job we did to keep the death down to an absolute minimum."

Though Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said that the state received the 200 ventilators sent by the Federal Government, he said that it was not enough for the coming onslaught. He said that the state will run out of ventilators again by April 9.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) had also criticized the President and his Administration earlier on Sunday claiming the Defense Production Act was not fully utilized to ramp up the production of the critical supplies that were needed.

“The president does not understand the word federal,” Pritzker said on CNN, adding, “individual states can't possibly do what the federal government can do,” forcing them into a bidding war because of the lack of leadership shown by the Federal government.

Trump hit back at Pritzker during the briefing saying that the governor complained all the time.