NY to get 1,000 ventilators with help from China, Oregon

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NEW YORK (AP) — New York is poised to get over 1,100 ventilators from China and Oregon as it scrambles to line up more breathing machines for the sickest coronavirus patients, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.

The Chinese government facilitated a 1,000-ventilator donation from billionaires Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai, the co-founders of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Cuomo said. He said those ventilators were due to arrive Saturday, and the state of Oregon had volunteered to send 140 more breathing machines.

“It’s going to make a significant difference for us,” said the Democratic governor. Cuomo had said on Thursday that the state’s supply of ventilators would be exhausted in six days if the number of critically ill coronavirus patients kept growing at the current rate.