President Trump on Thursday questioned whether New York will actually need the tens of thousands of ventilators the state’s leaders have said will be required to handle the expected number of coronavirus cases there.
The president phoned into Sean Hannity‘s show on Fox News, where he swiped at the governors of Michigan and Washington state and cast doubt on the need for mass ventilator production to meet the demand of certain states.
“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump said on “Hannity.”
The comments come as governors across the country are pleading with the federal government to provide critical medical supplies to meet the increasing need of resources as coronavirus cases continue to climb.
The president has been reluctant to use the Defense Production Act to compel private companies to produce ventilators, masks and other equipment hospitals are clamoring for, arguing they are doing so without being explicitly asked by the federal government.
Meanwhile, New York City has emerged as the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. More than 20,000 people there have been infected and more than 300 have died of the virus as of Thursday night.