Pence touts GE Healthcare’s ventilator production

Photo credit from White House: Office of the Vice President pool report

Vice President Mike Pence was in Madison Tuesday to praise efforts by GE Healthcare to produce ventilators, part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pence said that GE Healthcare has committed to producing 50,000 ventilators by July 13. He said that the work is providing needed equipment to support those struggling with the pandemic.

“We’re getting there,” he said. “We have a ways to go, but together, together we will meet this moment. We will – I believe with all of my heart – reach that day, someday soon, when we can put the coronavirus in the past.”

Pence also said he spoke to Gov. Tony Evers Tuesday, who told him that there are more than 300 Wisconsinites are on ventilators. Pence noted that Evers told him there’s additional capacity.

“It’s a testament to our healthcare workers and the care that they’ve been giving in this state and around the country,” he said. “It’s a testament to the American people, who have embraced the social distancing and the mitigation efforts that have slowed the spread.”

Democrats knocked Pence and Trump for not sending enough personal protective equipment to Wisconsin. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, told reporters on a press call he was “pretty outraged.”

“The bottom line is that the federal government’s response has been pathetic to where we need it to be,” he said.

Speaking on the call, registered nurse Shari Signer said she and other front-line providers “have been frustrated and dismayed” at the lack of proper equipment available to them.

“Recently, we have been told that we need to wear our masks until there are visible holes and broken straps on them,” she said. “I’m expected to wear the same mask from patient room to patient room, despite their isolation, despite their healthcare conditions.”

She said “the federal government has failed to get us the PPE we desperately need.”

Pence’s office shared with a pool reporter that a federal task force has coordinated the delivery of supplies to Wisconsin that as of April 14 included 371,000 N95 masks, 1,714,600 surgical and procedural masks, 49,300 eye and face shields, 1,398,550 isolation and surgical gowns and 46,975,300 surgical and exam gloves.

In addition, as of April 17, the Strategic National Stockpile has delivered 165,250 N95 respirators, 403,400 surgical masks, 79,078 face shields, 106,602 surgical gowns, 14,727 Tyvek coveralls and 348,050 gloves to the state, according to the pool report.

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